'Hope... that's all that I have inside of me...

hope that I'll be able to bring them back...

hope that I can restore everything back to normal...

hope that I can go home... But why...?

Why does she want to crush it so badly...?'

Chapter 5 ~ The beast of Hiessgart

-Me-

It's official! I hate Roy Mustang! Right after we left Resembol and headed back to HQ, he told us saying we're gonna be stuck together for a while. This ruined everything... now I'm on a train to do my very first important mission with 'him'. "Like I said before stop staring at me," Ed growls as we gave death glares at each other in the eye. It was the same thing like last time, but worse. I repeated, "Like I said before... I'm not staring... I'm glaring shorty...!" Man we wanted to try and strangle each other! The town we had to go to was Hiessgart, I'm not familiar with the place but I do know it's close to Dublith, "Oh c'mon you two stop it! You've been at it since the meeting of the Colonel!" Al was right, since then Ed and I had the worst reaction ever. I wanted to get on with my business but Ed still wanted me to apologize for before, when I first insulted him. "I'm not short!" rejects Ed making me even more urged to insult him even more.

'Oh I wish he said he was fun-sized...' my inner voice hissed with anticipation. The train started to slow down and that gave the signal for everyone in the train to get their stuff ready. "Yes! I can get off this train now!" I cheered with glee, preparing to dash out of the train and leave the shorty behind then finish the mission quickly. When the train completely stopped, I instantly jump from my seat until I was grabbed by the arm. "And where do you think you're going?" Ed asks with a look that said 'leave and you die'. I just gave him a dull look and said, "Just gonna finish 'my' mission." "Your mission!? We maybe partners but this mission is- Hey!" not wanting to stay any longer for his long lecture, I made a run for it as soon as saw a clearing behind his back. "Sorry shrimp! I got too much things to do besides these stupid missions with you!" I shout when I got a few feet away from the train and Ed. On the outside, I was cheering the fact that I ditched the guy while my fangirl side says I should go back to them.

The fact is, I just wanna stay as far away from the two, and yes also Al, so I can think straight. Those two might become very suspicious of me in the near future so I want to keep enough distance away from them inscase I do anything that'll cause suspicion. 'Alice... Everyone... I hope somewhere in this world you're still alright,' I prayed with high hopes inside my heart that I'll meet everyone again. But by my progress it might take awhile till I find a lead. "Ok Cat... first finish the mission then on to the search...!" since I was alone of course I had to talk to myself, even though people might think I'm crazy. It's not that bad to talk to yourself... right? As I continued ahead, I noticed how gloomy these people are. "I wonder if it's cause of the recent deaths...?" I wondered out loud, looking at how dead the people look. They pratically look like zombies in my point of view!

~Memory~

"What do you mean I'm still stuck with that guy!?" I screamed, slamming my hands onto Mustang's desk in the process of my shock. He rubbed his ears saying, "Like I said, you are given orders to stay with the Elric brother's until further answers." My eye brow twitch with annoyance, and to show it even more, I gave a long sigh. "How long will it be until I can be solo...?" I depressingly ask, looking down at the ground in total defeat. "For about 2 or 3 missions," informs Mustang, getting only a groan in response. "Ease up it, it's not like it's the end of the world," Mustang reassures with sarcasm in his voice. I look up at him giving him a look that said, 'It is the end of the world!' Laughing at this, Mustang hands me the mission file.

I opened it and read the contents as the colonel started to explain everything, "In a small town called Hiessgart, there have been reports of sudden murder cases. None survive... each victim was picked by random and the corpes are slaughtered exactly the same way. Our last victim was able to escape and tell the police about the killer, but..." I looked up at the colonel confused as to why he stopped so I asked, "Is something the matter colonel?" "The problem is... the killer is a chimera," the news surprised me, no shocked me as a matter of fact. I thought the first time a chimera would be shown is if we got to see Tucker, but now?

"You're kidding me, right?"
"I wish I was kid... But the reports were confirmed by the higher-ups about this."
"That's not possible... what about the equivalency in making that thing!?"
"Well we've searched for any alchemist that have come in and out of the area, and no alchemists have ever been to that part of Amestris."
"I see... so when can I leave?"

"When you three can leave you mean," Mustang corrects me with his annoying smirk. I sighed and corrected my self with bitter annoyace in my voice, "Right... When do me and the two boys leave for Hiessgart...?" Talk about pushy, well he his the 'great' Roy Mustang. "Tomorrow morning at 5 o'clock sharp," he informs and starts to do his paper work again. I looked at him with both shock and rage at the same time yelling, "What!? Ok hold on, that early!?" "It's just incase that you wouldn't go leave them behind and finish the mission," I was shocked at this sudden statement. I know I don't want to be so close the anyone here, especially the Elric brothers, but really? I'm not that heartless! "Ugh... can this day get any better...?" I groaned, turning away from the colonel and headed to the door. That is until he stops me by saying, "He really is a handful."

I turned my head and gave him a confused look, but Mustang just shook his head and looked back at me. When I finally left the room I thought I saw someone watching, but since there was no one on my left and right then I guess I was just seeing things.

~End of Memory~

"Ok time to ask around!" I cheered with enthusiatic sarcasm in my tone. Never, and I mean never, have I been that good with talking to people. If you take too long to reply to me, I would instantly yell out, 'Say something will ya!? Instead of standing there and stare at me!' or something else more insulting. I caught up to a nearby worker and asked him politely, "Excuse me sir, can please tell me anything about the deaths here in town?" The only reply I got was a scared look and a scream. "Wait!" but I was too late, the screaming coward ran away leaving me staring at when he disappeared off to with a sweat drop on my head. 'What the heck just happened...?' my thoughts wondered with confusion. I never expected a giant man like him could scream like that. "Ok... on the to next!" or so I thought. After my sudden out burst with that question almost everyone started to avoid me.

I started to pant and leaned against a nearby object from exhaustion. The whole time I was chasing everyone, the sky was nearly dark and the street lamps had already turned on. I sweat dropped thinking, 'I bet Ed and Al are really worried about me now." Knowing Ed, he would've gone crazy after knowing I was gone for too long. I know we hate each others guts but knowing him, he would definitely look for me since I'm his partner. And thats the only reason why! "I could tell you..." a timid voice offers from behind my back. I turned to see a small little girl hiding behind a nearby tree with her head sticking out. Walking up to her, the girl cautiously stepped out from the tree and kept her eyes on me. I knelt down to her level and asked politely, "Can you tell me anything?" For some of reason she reminds me of Alice, it's weird but everything is exactly like how I met her when we were little, even the rabbit was similar. She nods her head slowly, "Yes..."

"For months now... the monster has been taking away people that we love... nobody has been about able to tell of what it was until that survivor did... except almost his whole family died the day after that. The only time you get to see it is at midnight near the abandoned laboratory that the military used to experiment to make some sorta red liquid..."
"How do you know all this?"
"Because... because... it took daddy!"

At that sudden moment, I was instantly hugged by the little body and nearly fell from the sudden impact. "Uh..." was the only thing that came out of my mouth. As a normal reaction I hugged her back, but it was hard since she was hugging me a little too tight. We pulled away from each other and I swore to her with reassurance, "Don't worry, I promise to make sure to catch that monster." "Really?" she stares at me with hope. I nod to her, getting a smile in return. "What's your name?" I ask nearly forgetting to catch her name. She smiles cheerfully and says the name of the person I've missed, "Alice!" I froze at that moment but I regained my posture not to worry the girl with a smile. "Alice... that's a beautiful name," I compliment. Alice had a hint of pink on her cheek from my suddent comment. When we let go of each other, she ran into the distance while looking back at me waving her hand and yelled, "Thank you so much miss!"

I waved back as I watch Alice run off into the distance. I looked up at the sky and smiled saying, "Thank you Alice... I guess you really do know how to surprise me." Her image projected in the sky with her smiling. Now that I had enough info I should probably go and find Ed and Al, but seeing that it was already late I might have to go and scout the area. "Hm... what should I do now..." I wondered as I looked around the shop windows that were still had light inside. "How about you tell us where the hell you've been...?" a very familiar, and pissed off, voice asks from behind my back. I nearly squeeled at this before I turned to see who it was. In the end, it was just Ed, who looked very tired at the moment and Al standing infront of me. "Oh it's just you," I sigh in relief and got Ed mad even more.

"Do you even know how long it took to find you!?" shouts an even more pissed Edward. I stood in a thinking position and randomly said, "About... 4 hours...?" I just said that to get him over the edge. In fury, Ed tries to attack me but his brother holds him back and tells him to stop. "Where have you been Catherine?" Al asks kindly in his brother's place while still keeping hold of the wild boy. I put my hands behind me head and started to explain, "I've been looking for information of the killer except I only got screams as a result of questioning." Lucky for for me, Ed had finally calmed down after hearing my explaination. "Well you know what the mission so we can't really help you there," he reminds me, with the look that says 'hurry up and say it'. I sighed in defeat and started from the beginning and let me tell ya, it wasn't pretty, especially with Ed here.

I stood in place, waiting for their re-action. "Why the didn't you say anything about this!?" they both shout simutaliously from shock and that made me wince at how hard their gaze was at me. 'Maybe I should've told them earlier...' I thought with regret filling up inside of me. I instantly started to apologize like there's no tomorrow at that point, "I'm sorry guys! It's just that I've been waaayyy to caught up in a lot of things and I was really hoping you two won't except coming with me on this mission!" Man, that was the longest apology ever! THey were taken aback by this sudden apology, I would to if someone did that to me, and normally it was Alice who was blunt. "It's alright Catherine," Al spoke up, "everyone has things going on in their head." Never thought of it that way, but if Al said it then I believe him. "Thanks Al... So, what now?" I ask and turned to a very, yet shocking, quiet Edward who was in his thinking postion.

"Well it's almost midnight so we need to think up a plan and fast," Ed suggests. While the two started their planning, I thought I saw a figure in the distance, but I just ignored it. I was suddenly surprised when I heard, "Ah hah! I got it!" Both me and Al gazed at each other confused then turned to the boy. Ed gave me a very weird look, one that consists of a smirk and eyes that annoy you like heck. This cause me to be even more confused at his expression.

"Stupid Elric... making me where this stupid get-up..." I muttered under my breath with a whole lot of hate in my voice. I have many reasons... it's all Edward's doing! 'I know we're partners and we're suppose to help each other, but I can't he did this!' my inner thoughts screamed in both rage and disbelief. I was heading to the exact location Alice had mentioned, but I was the decoy in clothes that were 'suppose' to make me look like a normal person Out of pure rage, I screamed up towards the sky and stopped in place, "I hate you Elric!" The clothes I was wearing is: a white long sleeved frilly dress, a straw hat, pink slippers, and a small purse. In secret, it contained a knife inside. Just incase that the plan goes wrong and I was killed in the process, I had something to help before my untimely death. The two boys were following me while hiding above ontop of every roof they could jump onto.

They're hopeless, it's not like they need to have a plan, they already know how to defeat millions of bad guys in their situation. I can still remember his stupid idea.

++Earlier++

"Hell no!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. For some odd reason I was a candidate for decoy/bait to get the chimera's attention and ambush it. "C'mon Catherine, you're not chicken... are you?" attempts a very amused Edward with a sly smirk on his face. 'Don't give into his temptation... don't give in...!' I scream in my head, trying to resist the urge to accept his current offer. Sadly it didn't work, he said the magic word to make me accept, "Unless you're a scaredy-cat." My left eyebrow twitched along with my automail arm rattling, but not loud enough for them to hear. That is one of my weaknesses, if anything related to my old nickname I would burst into rage. "Fine! I accept Elric!" I lash out instantly and started to go around any place that I could use. Ed stood in triumph while Al just stood in place, not wanting to get in the way of my frenzy. "I will not let you look down at me!" was the last thing I yelled before I realized what I've done.

++Present++

As I continued my way to my destination, there was already a small noise in the distance, which got louder as I got closer. My heart was racing for some reason, like as if there's something that I've been yearning to see again. I reached the tree but the only thing I saw there was... a crimson staring carpet of blood on both the leaves and the grass below. I couldn't move, my body was frozen stiff at the sight and the smell of blood in the air. For some odd reason there was a sound of an animal growling from around me, like an echoe or something. But that didn't scare me at all, it only amused me of how stubborn this thing is gonna be. Red glowing eyes appeared from inside the tree's leaves to peak at it's victim. Too bad the thing had me to deal with. In a swift keen moment, it jumped out from the tree instantly and onto the ground infront of me.

We both had a long staring contest when the chimera landing on the ground. It's like as if time stopped around us, making us oblivious to anything around us, especially the fact that the two Elric's were still ontop of the building doing god-knows-what. I slowly reached into my small hand bag for the knife as the beast infront of stalked my frozen state, and waited for me to make a single move. "That's right... keep circling..." I whisper and felt the weapons handle by my finger tips. I was waiting for the two, but if this keeps up, I might end up dying since I'm only good at using a sword and alchemy. The strangest thing happened, the chimera's eyes started to change along with tears coming out of it's eyes. "Cathe...rine..." it slowly mutters my name. I froze in place, but that didn't stop me from defending myself. I know it's a crazy thing to to, but I had to ask the bloody thing, "How... do you know my name...?"

"Catherine... it's really... you!" for some odd reason the Chimera started to cry with it's, now fully-formed, human eyes. I finally recognized the voice after the chimera's voice rose. 'It can't be-!' I was never able to finish my thoughts. The chimera had already pounced at me like as if it was a dog happy to see it's master again. "Gah! Get off me!" I scream/whisper from shock while thinking at the same time in annoyance, 'Where the hell is Ed and Al!?' I don't get what's going on at all! Who the heck was this person before a chimera and how does he/she know me if I'm from the other side!? "Alice... it's me Alice!" the chimera cries. At that moment, all of my senses stop working, like as if father time just threw the switch on to freeze time. "No... you can't be Alice! She's gone... along with the others!" I screech in denial and tried to get the chimera off of me. 'No... this can't be... this can't be happening!' I continued to struggle until I finally got the thing off me.

To my relief, the chimera finally got off after noticing my little attempt to get out. I sat up from my place only to stare at those brown human eyes. I was actually believing it was Alice by how bright her eyes had become. "Have you calmed down?" Alice asks me in concern and starts to stared at me, waiting for an answer. I rubbed the tears from my eyes before answering her question, "Of course not... I still can't accept the fact that you out of all people are still alive..." The process of taking this in was hard on my aching head in this kind of situation. 'I just hope,' I looked around worriedly, 'that they're not listening.' Of course, I still have to be cautious right since I do still have those two to think about. Finally realizing something, I quickly start to question Alice, "What happened to you!? How can you be a chimera!? Are the others alright!?"

It was all so sudden to the poor chimera girl that she didn't even know where to start! "Well... the truth is-" a whistle blew in the distance and cause Alice to stop before she could answer. We both turned to see lights in the distance coming up to where we were. I instantly stood up along with a very frightened Alice, shivering in fear. "I think I see it!" a voice of a man shouts in the distance. "Tch... out of all times..." I mutter in annoyance and turned to Alice. "Go! I'll be the one to handle this!" I stood up and prepared myself for a transmutation. From behind, I could sense Alice's hesitation so I shouted out, "Go NOW!" I clapped my hands together, signaling that I was about to do my transmutation. Instantly placing my hands on the ground, blue alchemical lights shot forward and tall thin water pillars formed infront of where the intruders were coming from.

Looking behind my back, Alice had already disappeared from sight, which was good since I didn't want whoever those people were to catch her.

"What's with all this water!?"
"Who cares!? It's just a stupid alchemists' work, the idiot didn't even freeze it!"
"So that means..."\
"All we have to do is just walk through! Whoever that alchemist is, is pretty dumb!"
"Yeah! We may not be genius', but at least we're smart enough to know that we can just walk through water!"

A vein popped at the back of my head after hearing that. I transmuted the water into ice out of anger as I yelled, "My transmutations are not stupid! And I'm sure damn smarter than you smart ass!" (Sorry for the badwords!) After my little out burst, I could hear the person in the distance run into the, currently changed, ice pillars with a hug 'bang.' I burst out laughing in triumph, "Never under-estimate the Mercury Alchemist! You low-lives aren't that smart at all!" I raised both of my hands up in the air and started to cheer, that is until hands cuffs were placed around my wrists. "Hm?" when I turned to see who the stranger was, there stood three police officers, one seemed very pissed and had... a large bump? 'Aw crap...!' I then realized that 'he' was the man who ran into one of my ice pillars. Now that I think about it, they weren't very far so they should have either went around or they broke it.

To confirmed my hypothesis, I moved my gaze away from the police and to my transmutation, and saw two had broken out of the twenty bars that was made. I suddenly tensed up and turned back to the police asking nervously, "And... what might be the problem officer...?"

++Later++

Our foot steps echoed throughout the hallways of the empty station. The officers had to escort me and bring to meet, possibly, their boss or what I call the big guy. "Great... what next? " I shouldn't have asked. As soon as I entered the room, I saw the last person I wanted to see. "Well look what the Cat dragged in," smirks Ed, sitting at the Directors seat with his feet up on the desk. "Don't call me that! You have no right after not showing up like you said you would!" I lashed out, out of pure rage, along with the feeling of betrayal boiling up inside of me. There's one thing I learned back home that was atleast useful, never trust somebody so easily with your life, especially those that will betray you in the end. After calming down and the police men left the room, I sat on a small chair nearby asking, "What's this about Elric? And why are all these idiots following you?"

"We wanted to help you, but then we got arrested. Someone reported of us jumping from roof to roof," Al explains apologetically, about theirs reasons why they didn't come to my 'rescue'. I was both happy and angry at the same time, happy that they didn't come to my aid, but angry at the fact they left me alone to deal with it myself. "Tch... I guess I'll considerate since its Al..." I muttered in defeat. There's no reason to argue, even though I still want Ed's side of the story, but we have to focus on the mission. I'll have to find a way for them to think that Alice was killed by my hands without hurting her. I'm just glad to know that Alice was alive and... um... well? Ok she's a chimera, but if she isn't dead then the others might be here too! Except probably a chimera... I was so lost in thought once again, that I never realized that Edward was in my face.

After realizing how close our faces were, my cheeks felt how and I screamed out, "Don't stick your face in like that!" In the process, I accidentally punched his face away.

-Jealousy-

In the far distance of Hiessgart, the same girl that had met Catherine, was sitting on a piece of rubble that once belonged to an abandoned house and was glowering at the chimera before her. "So... she's here is she?" asks a very unhappy Homonculi, emphisizing that one part with bitterness in her tone. Alice bowed her head downwards, not wanting to take one look at the sinister sadistic, who bore the face of Jealousy's other being. She gritted her teeth and side-kicked the poor chimera girl's right cheek, which sent her flewing into the nearest tree. "You were suppose to kill that bitch tonight! Now all the plans that I had set up have been ruined!" the girl started to have one of her fits again, and this time, none of her homonculi allies were there to stop her rampage. Alice tried to stand up, but Jealousy had picked her up the by the back of her neck.

"Maybe I should replace you with another soul from this stone," suggests a smiling homonculi, taking out a philosopher's stone from her pocket. The stone was bright red, brighter than any that have been forged, but inside the souls were screaming inside in fear. She whispered into her dog-like ears, "Fail me again... you, you're dear friend and all of those that turned into this stone will never be free... Now go and see her before your time runs out. Throwing Alice into a random direction, Jealousy laughed up toward the sky asking, "Now do you like what you have made Truth!? This is the cost of taking something that was not ment to be taken!"

To Be Continued

Yo my fellow readers! I'm sorry you waited so long but don't worry! The next was recently typed two days ago so thank you for that waiting! Fairy Tail will start next month on the 30th, so if you have any suggestions, besides renaming the Dragon slayer magic type, I will gladly take in as many as I can for the first few chapters! So please place your suggestions on the character info page! That picture of what the little girl named Alice is bellow for those that are curious. And from now on, I'll be using characters places from the original and the game! I thought that it's a shame that they had a short preview so... I'll be happy enough to present them in a different way than in the first anime