Hope everyone is doing well in the spoopy month of Halloween! I haven't posted in a LONG time, but as these chapters will be posted in succession, I got married back on September 25th and life has been an amazing rollercoaster.
For this year's entry for the BigBang challenge, which you should go check out the FMABB21 tag on Tumblr, AO3, and other social media platforms, because so many people came together to pour their heart and soul into an AMAZING collaborative effort.
To all of my readers here, cuddle underneath a blanket and grab a warm drink, because HOPEFULLY this story will spook you to the core.
Being a doctor wasn't exactly the job Edward dreamed of having. He trained for all of his life to be the best alchemist, but because of the health crisis in Amestris, a few things had to change. People were dropping like flies and no one could explain why. A few people in isolated towns would fall deathly ill without any other symptoms showing up. Dr. Tim Marcoh would do anything he could to save his patients, but even he was at a loss for words.
"Edward, I know this has to be a scary thing to go through. Some people out over in the northern and southern countries of Amestris have no medical grasp on the situation either." Wrinkles showed his age; Tim Marcoh spent countless hours at the chalkboard trying to draw some kind of conclusion with what exact disease was plaguing everyone.
Test tubes and samples were labelled with victims who passed away from this bizarre disease. "I don't know Marcoh, but I do know Alphonse and Winry are okay. Well, definitely Alphonse considering he's in a suit, but in the meantime, we need to figure out what this disease is."
Liquids and metals were scattered around the medical wing; those two weren't exactly the most organized alchemist doctors out there.
Edward and Tim had relocated themselves to Asbec, knowing the cold weather would be the best in regards for their research. The unpredictable weather right in Central City would have jeopardized their test results. For weeks on end, the two looked into every cure written in the books, but nothing came to fruition. Absolutely nothing. But while Tim wanted to give up a couple of times, the determination within Edward spoke volumes.
"Why is it that being an alchemist is a curse?" Edward questioned himself. He just spent hours looking at some Xingese literature, but everything about the Dragon's Pulse made no sense to him.
He spent countless nights trying to understand the country of Xing, but the dark circles under his eyes proved that he needed a break. Another book was laid in front of him, but he had such a hard time keeping his eyes open. His head bobbed up and down, and Tim knew he needed some rest.
"Edward, you've been working a few days in a row without any sleep. Why don't you take a small vacation? You can't heal your patients if you're asleep. Why don't you visit Al and Winry, or give Roy a call? I think he'd like to hear from his student. You didn't become a doctor without becoming an alchemist first. He was your steppingstone, so to speak."
"Hmm, well, it would be nice to show off what I learned in front of the colonel. Plus, most of Central City is still intact, and I miss that place."
All of a sudden, the phone rang near him. "Oh shit, who can be calling me now?!" Edward exclaimed, the stress lines on his face were really starting to show.
"Don't worry about it, Edward, let me get it." The old man tried to maneuver around the antiquated equipment gracefully and elegantly. No matter how goofy or finicky it looked, Tim macquyvered his way throgh. "This is Dr. Marcoh, how can I help you?"
The sound of the switchboard went off and Tim tapped his foot with a little bit of impatience, he was put on holding music. "Okay, who just calls to put you on hold without saying anything?"
"I don't know, technology maybe?" Edward responded a bit sarcastically.
"Sorry about that, something with my phone was screwy and I had some impatient customers. Is Edward there? It's Winry."
Just then, Tim's face lit up when he heard the line connect. "Oh, he most certainly is. One moment."
Edward looked a little confused, but Tim had a huge smile on his face. The old man found value in the smallest of things, like knowing that Edward had a girl back at home who'd be waiting for him.
"Edward Elric, how can I possibly help you?" his tone maintained its with a hint of sarcasm, he hated talking to people over the phone.
"Edward, I thought you would remember to call me on my birthday."
He gasped at his own stupidity. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry Winry. When you have your face buried in books, sometimes calendar dates in the real world become a blur. How do you want me to make it up to you?" he scrambled, and then with his next breath added, Happy belated Birthday?"
A few seconds passed on by, Edward didn't like the silence. A chuckle almost managed to escape his lips, but Winry's reprimanding brought him back into reality.
"Well Edward, for your little mess up, and thank you, why don't you and I meet up back over in Risembool? My work over in Rush Valley has been keeping me so busy, that even my boss thinks I need a break from it." She giggled, her words trailing off, "So, when do you want to meet up?"
Edward choked a little, it was a long while since he met up with Winry. They were childhood friends for a long time, but then he thought about Alphonse. With the medical frenzies flooding across the country, news monitors tried to explain something the public barely had a grasp about. Alphonse wanted to stay with her, he wanted to help her out with her own clients in Rush Valley.
"How about this proposition Ms. Rockbell? You and Alphonse come to meet me in Central City within the next day, I've got a few tasks to keep Alphonse busy. I know he's wanted to talk to Mustang about a few things and I think Alphonse has shown more interest into alkehestry more than I can. I can't read this stuff for the life of me."
"I was hoping it would just be the two of us, but sure, I'm cool with that. I'll let Alphonse know. One moment. HEY, ALPHONSE! Pack your bags, we're making a trip over to Central City!"
"Here, let me talk to Ed. Hey big brother, so what have you been up to recently? I've been trying to call you, but you haven't returned any of my phone calls."
"Sorry little brother, but I've had my head stuck in theories and formulas. There might be a component for why people are dying and something within them is changing."
"So, do you mean when they go through their decomposing state?" Alphonse replied with concern in his voice.
"No, not quite. Thankfully, I'm not looking at dead bodies, that's just too much I think for any one of us to handle. I leave that to the big boys like Dr. Marcoh and even Dr. Knox. Some element is being introduced to them to almost have their bodies reconstruct, but at some point, they just collapse. Like, you're trying to make a pyramid out of cards, but one card gets knocked out and everything falls apart."
Right by Edward was one of those labelled vials; black grainy dust whirled around in tempered glass. The more he shook it around, the more he saw a few grains trying to reconnect. As they almost made a solid connection, it fizzled out, like soda losing its carbonation. Edward didn't like that feeling; science should be able to prove why those bodies decomposed like that.
"Well Ed, let's set the science aside for now, we need to spend some family time together. I think that's what Granny Pinako would want us to do. We went into this as brothers and no matter what gets thrown our way, we'll first find a cure and get our bodies back to normal one day."
Long, blond hair brushed over his shoulder, the dark circles showed he needed a break badly. "You're right Al, no matter what, I'll be there for you and we'll do what it takes to get our bodies back. If that's the one regret I have in life, it's what we did, but I think this regret has played in our favor. With my alchemical powers, more doors have opened up."
However, as much as Edward wanted to develop his thoughts and prove a few theorems, a knock was heard at the door. "Alphonse, I've got to go. Tim, could you get the door?"
"Sure Ed, not a problem. These bones don't move like they used to; when you get old like me, you'll realize it."
The young alchemist couldn't help but chuckle a little at the sarcasm, Alphonse did too. "Well big brother, I'll see you soon."
Metal clicked as both brothers put the phones down. For once, Edward was happy to be accompanied by family and friends he hadn't seen in a long while. Days on end, Edward wanted to find any kernel of truth for why these people were dying, but he was forgetting the people that helped him to overcome the biggest obstacle in his life.
A man behind the door continued to knock, Tim quickly tried to get around his delicate experiments. "Hold on, sorry."
Behind that door was a soldier from Central City; his blue uniform and stern demeanor made Tim a little uncomfortable. "Um, what are you doing here Lieutenant General? How can I help you?"
"Dr. Tim Marcoh and Dr. Edward Elric, both of you are being summoned by the Furher. I am Lieutenant General Raven, I tend to overlook cities by Briggs. He demands your presence immediately."
Edward gasped, his eyes widened. "Wait a minute, Raven? What's going on?"
"As I understand, you're looking into the deaths of these people, but the Furher needs your data and theories to help prove his theory into reality. How much time do you two need to get ready?"
With a quick transmutation circle, Edward was able to pack his messy desk into a neat one. "Lickity split, an alchemist knows how to condense things."
However, for Marcoh, he wasn't quite as ready. "Except, I can't be down there tomorrow. Give me two days at most, I need to be able to pack up my experiments carefully. As long as I can have at least one person to represent our research, I'd be more than certain for Edward to show it."
The worried old man tried to gingerly walk around his experiments, intricate wires and tubing filled up the room. "Sorry Lieutenant General, science involves a little bit of patience."
Raven's cold blue eyes sternly stared at them; he wasn't quite used to the kind of situation he was in. He preferred ordering issues in his own way.
Metal clinked within his arm and with a smirk on Edward's face, he was ready to fight whatever might come into his way. He donned his famous red jacket, the FullMetal Alchemist was ready for a tussle.
/
"How curious, I'm surprised how their bodies have changed so much just by human transmutation."
A gaggle of older men stood around a pile of dead bodies. Although, these corpses were fresh. Blood and transmutation circles scattered across the concrete floor.
"What would happen if I introduced a fraction of a Philosopher's Stone?" his voice slightly cracked.
Right within the palm of his wrinkly hand, was the legendary stone all alchemists desired. They craved the gargantuan power one small stone could deliver. Men were willing to crawl over bodies; their greedy intentions would take full possession. An almost inhuman instinct, but that's how humans functioned for these men. They saw what these men would truly do to get what they desired, their sins becoming their identity.
"It's almost here, a new generation, no, another evolution of Homunculi that will take this whole world by storm. It's time for people to kill or be killed."
Pride sneered a distance away, Envy couldn't help but chuckle a little, but Wrath walked forward to the doctors. His sword barely grazed the ground, a deep gruff escaped from the old man. "If what you're doing is going to create something equally as strong as us, then it's time to put it to the test."
As I said, the next chapters will be posted in rapid succession so keep your eyes peeled!
As always, please R&R because it helps a writer like me to hear feedback and constructive criticism! A writer is as only good when they hear feedback and it makes me smile what you guys have to say!