Me: *weak and looks burnt* Yay… chapter four! *smiles and sways* lets get it started.
Mokou: *clears throat*
Me: Right... Things will look up for Moku in this chapter. I swear.
Mokou: It better…
Me: hehehe.. Help me!
[Ok, ok. Real time here, The day I uploaded the last chapter.. I lost my job.. and the next day wrecked my car… so if this one seems lack luster.. Sorry.]
Me: I don't own Touhou, nor FMA.
Mokou slides down into the bath and blows some bubbles in the self-heated water. A white shirt and a black pair of pants rest next to her. She looks at the bathroom wall and reminisces of the time when she first met the Elric Brothers.
"Huh?" Alphonse said once he saw Mokou climb out of the Sewer. "H-how can this be? You aren't a Homunculus, are you?" Al questioned her.
"Huh?" Ed glared at Mokou while assuming a battle position.
Mokou stared at the two brothers. "Get real- there's NO way in hell that I am what Greed is," she replied to the two.
"Then how are you alive? I saw Bradley cut you in two," Al questioned her.
Ed stared at her while searching her for an Ouroboros tattoo.
Mokou sighed and was about to reply when Ed and Al's teacher called out to them.
"What is taking you so long? Get in here and help me fix Dinner!" Ed and Al's teacher yells. She then stopped and stared right in Mokou's eyes. "Oh… It's you. What are you doing here?"
Mokou tried to explain, but she had been cut off by everyone telling her to take a bath.
Mokou continues to make bubbles while soaking in the hot water. Meanwhile, Ed and Al explain everything they know about Mokou to their teacher.
"Are you serious? She was cut in two by him?" She asked Al.
"Yeah, but she claims not to be a Homunculus."
"Maybe someone should check to be sure."
Both Ed and Al looked at their teacher. She menacingly glared back at both of them. They shivered from the looks she gave them and backed up just a little.
"Fine. She'll never let either of you in without burning you two into a crisp," she decides before she heads upstairs.
The brothers let out a sigh of relief because they did not have to check to make sure Mokou wasn't a Homunculus. With the help of their teacher's husband, they begin fixing the food for all of them to eat.
"Hey Sig, can I borrow that knife?" Edward asks the intimidating and muscular butcher.
Sig nods and throws the knife in the direction of Ed. While he somewhat expected Ed to catch it in his fingers, Ed missed the catch. The knife hits the wall- just barely going over Ed's head! A moment after it hit the wall, both Ed and Al start freaking out. Sig sighs and shakes his head.
Mokou hears a knock on the door and looks over. "Ahh… I'm still in here," she states.
"I know. The boys want me to check for that tattoo Greed had," the teacher explained behind the door.
Mokou immediately covers herself with her arms. "N-n-no way. I-if you see me like this, I won't be able to marry," she nervously says. She wasn't really interested in anyone, but something made her say this. She blushes after she lets the words slip out of her mouth.
"It's not like I'm gonna do anything to yo-" Ed and Al's teacher stops and pukes out blood.
Mokou looks over and notices the blood come though the bottom of the door and she freaks out. She jumps out and rushes the teacher into the bathroom while covering herself. "Are you alright?" Mokou asks as the teacher while helping her sit down on the toilet.
"I'm fine. This happens once in a while," she says to her. "My name is Izumi Curtis," she claims while raising her hand to shake Mokou's hand. Mokou shakes Izumi's hand while keeping herself covered.
"I'm Fujiwara no Mokou- Mokou for short," she says to Izumi.
Izumi wipes her mouth and looks her over a bit. "Since I am here…" she hints making Mokou both blush and sigh.
"F-fine…" She finally replies.
Moments later, Mokou and the teacher walk downstairs. Mokou was wearing the white tee shirt and black pants which were originally beside her when she was taking a bath. Izumi walks over and kisses her husband and to gather the Elric brothers. After they gather at the table, they begin talking.
"Mokou here does not have an Ouroboros tattoo on her anywhere," Izumi says which puzzles the boys.
"Jeez..." Mokou adds while blushing. She really didn't want to talk about that.
"Then how?" They ask Mokou at the same time. She sighs and then sits up.
"Any one of you have a cigarette...?" She asks. All of them shake their heads. Mokou sighs and then leans back. "Guess I gotta explain without one… Jeez. Alright, listen up. You may not believe most of this, but I'll tell you who I am and where I am from." She starts off to explain. She tells them about Gensoyko and a bit of her past. Most of it they didn't believe of course. But after a show of fire, and a partially burnt shirt because of it, they came to believe she was immortal.
"Hmmmm. I know your flames have to burn on something," Ed says analyzing Mokou's flame powers.
"The oil on her sink is probably the conductor," Al Replies back.
Mokou nervously sweatdrops a bit. They were talking about her as if she wasn't there! She looks at Izumi and notices that Izumi looks like she is thinking about it all.
"She uses the alchemic energy to start the flames but," Izumi trails off before turning to look at Mokou. "She doesn't use transmutation circles."
Ed and Al look at their teacher in surprise. Then they look at Mokou.
Their stares seem to pour into her. "Wh-what? What is it?" Mokou nervously asks again.
"You've seen it, haven't you," Izumi asks her.
"Seen what?" Mokou asks back.
"The Truth," Ed says.
Mokou thinks for a moment. "Do you mean that thing that took my whole body?"
All their eyes widen in shock.
"You've seen as much as Al has- maybe even more!" Ed proclaims.
"She might be the clue to finding out how to get our bodies back brother!" Al says to Ed.
They were still talking as if she wasn't there. Mokou sighs a bit. "I don't think I saw anything like that," she says to them. Their moods seem to have deflated. "Sorry," she says to them as they pout.
"So what are you two going to do now?" Izumi asks them.
"Well, I need to get my arm fixed- Again! Winny is going to kill me when she finds out," Ed whines. Al pats his shoulder.
"And what about you Miss Mokou," Izumi asks her.
"I don't know," Mokou says while looking down at the food. "I sho- ! Alphonse. What happened to Martel? Where is she?" Mokou suddenly asks as a thought appeared in her mind.
Al just looks down and stays quiet.
"…No… No, no, no!" Mokou starts to weep. "Th-they are all gone? No!... No… my friends… they…" Mokou puts her head on the table and cries. She doesn't notice that flames had caught her shirt on fire again. In a quick action they had all put out the fire, but Mokou didn't care much. She just stayed in the same spot crying for the rest of the meal. After the meal was finished, she went to bed. No one knew what to say to her.
Around the same time, King Bradley was under the city of Central. He spoke with the other Homunculus and a man named "father." He brought Greed back with him and after talking for a while, the mean revealed to Greed that his name was Wrath. The Man called "father" asked if Greed would join them again and Greed refused to. Father then had no choice but to "purify him by dunking his body into a vat of boiling liquid."
Meanwhile in Gensoyko's Higan, a place where souls are judged, a woman with Green hair opens her eyes. She senses something strange. The woman stands up and walks nearby to find her clothes so she can get dressed. As she pulls on her perfectly symmetrical clothes, she looks out the window. "A Soul of Great Sin has just shown up."
She grabs something called the Rod of Remorse and heads to cross the Sanzu River. On the other side of the river, a line of Souls surround a sleeping girl with pink hair in pigtails. She rests just carefully enough to where no one can look up her blue dress. Her scythe leans against the tree. While she is napping, a few souls stare and talk about her.
"Is this girl really the Grim Reaper?" asks an Ox-like, human phantom.
"Has to be, Loa- Didn't expect her to be lazy though," the Dog like phantom says.
"I don't like it," says a female, snake like phantom.
"Hmmm yea," Loa's phantom agrees to them.
"You mean 'Hmmm yea' I agree with you Martel?" Martel's phantom asks Loa. He replies the same way he just said.
"Who cares. This means we can linger here a bit longer," the dog-like phantom says.
"Yea, but what about when she finally wakes up? Then what Dorchet?" Martel asks.
"So this is the afterlife?" states a familiar voice behind them. The Souls turn around and see Greed in almost a full body soul.
"Greed!" All of them surprisingly says.
"Hey everyone." Greed replies back with a wave and his famous grin. He walks up to the Ferrywoman and pokes her leg. "I didn't think the Grim Reaper would be this cute."
The women mumbles in her nap and shifts to the other side.
"That's because she isn't the Grim Reaper," a voice above them says. The woman with Green hair lands and smacks the ferrywoman with the Rod of Remorse. "This is the ferrywoman of the Senzu River, Onozuka Komachi. And I am the Emma of Gensoyko- Shikieiki Yamaxanadu!" She proclaims to them.
The three little phantoms, scared of her presents, go and hide behind Greed.
"Real classy guys…" He tells them as she steps forward.
"I came here to immediately judge you, Greed the Avaricious," Shikieiki says to Greed.
"I take it this doesn't happen too often," He says grinning. "I'll take it as an honor."
She frowns at this, "I actually have been driven to do this more times than I can count. Your case, though one of the gravest, is not unique at all."
"tsh, ouch lady," he says to her. "But saying I'm one of the gravest- that's at least something!"
The Enma frowned in disgust, "What arrogance. To take pride in such a thing, it is terrible." She took on an imposing stand and started her rant, "Greed the Avaricious, your list of sins is great, far, far greater than it should be. Your quest to satisfy every single desire you have has made you fall into a position where, no matter what you do, you would be sent immediately to hell had you been ferried to Higan, IF, that is, your soul is strong enough to survive the impossible width of the Sanzu that your sinful lifestyle has granted you. This is the very reason why I have come here to judge you."
"Well I wouldn't call it pride. I don't have an ounce of pride in me," he replies to her.
"That I shall agree. There is not an ounce of pride in you. But..." She suddenly pointed at his face with her Rod of Remorse, "Greed. Greed is everything about you, even your name. It is what drives you, what motivates you. It is what controls your thoughts and emotions. Every sinful act you have ever committed in your life is an act in the name of greed. How could I possibly let such a thing slide?" Her rod of remorse glows. On the rod, every single sin he has ever done is written, but in the biggest, most grotesque letters, was written the deadly sin of GREED. "Black. Blackness is all I see when I look at you. Really, had I or any of the other Yamas encountered you in Higan, we would have sent you to Hell immediately, without judgment. One look at you shows us everything you have ever done in life." She stood there with her Rod of Remorse on his face, staring at him with eyes that seemed to pierce through his very being.
He takes her way of looking at him in shock. The others have scattered from him when she started ranting at him. Then, he looks up at her with a wide grin. "Yes! You understand who I am!" He laughs out. "I am Greed. I want everything you could ever want! Money power, woman- Everything! And I'll take the harshest punishment for it all! SO GO ON! GIVE IT TO ME!" he says to the Emma. "Oh and be sure to send my siblings the same way! I promised them that I would keep the flames of hell hot- just for them." He laughs out, almost crazed like.
Shikieiki closed her eyes and sighed sadly, "A man with no regret for his sins is a man that cannot be saved. I have done what is in my power, but one who even wishes for Hell...Not even I can convince to repent. I am afraid that you are a lost cause, Greed the Avaricious." She drew back her arm high above him, "I hate to recur to this, but perhaps physical pain will make you see the light." The Enma then swung down with such strength that she caused him to crash-land on the ground, even making a dent.
Greed coughs out in pain and goes to get up. "Is that all? Come on! I do wonder if it would get past my ultimate shield…" He coughs out at her.
Shikieiki raised her arm again, "You really are not aware of how we work in the afterlife. This is one blow for every sin committed, no matter how small." With that, she brought down her Rod of Remorse again, repeating this action over and over and over for every one of Greed's countless sins.
With every hit, he cries out in pain, crawling himself back up every time. By the 200th hit he coughs out some inaudible words.
She stops in mid-air, "What was that?"
Greed pushes himself to look up at her. "I said. It's no use lady. I was made this way. Hit me all you want. I'll never repent for what I have done," he stubbornly coughs out, barely holding himself up.
Shikieiki sighed, "Even so, I will continue to give punishment. After all, you more than deserve it." She then continued to brutalize him. The past 200 hits have not even used up a sliver of energy in her.
Loa, Dorchet and Martel watch as Greed gets his punishment. Each were too scared to even try going to help. Even Komachi was too scared to even have her stop. She sighs knowing it won't be over any time soon while she starts getting to work. She didn't want to get in more trouble by slacking off while Shikieiki was there.
Ed and Al pack up and get ready to go. Neither of them knew what to say to Mokou who had locked herself into the room
"Well, we'll be seeing you teacher," Ed says to Izumi as they head to the door.
"What about Mokou? You want me to wake her and tell you two are going out?" She asked the brothers.
"No, she seemed upset… so…" Al says as they hear a slam from upstairs.
Mokou walks down the stairs. She was wearing a better white shirt, black jeans and simple jacket that Izumi had in the room. "Who said you could go anywhere without me?" She asks the brothers.
"You want to come with us?" Al asks her as she stuffs a bunch of things of paper into the jacket's pockets.
"Yea, why not? Besides, sitting around here sounds boring and I need someone who knows where to go," She explains while hiding her real motive of finding King Bradley to kill him.
Ed stares at her and then shrugs. "Alright then. We are off to rush valley," he says before heading out the door.
A little later on, on the train, Ed looks on as Mokou works on making seals. "What are you doing? Some weird alchemy?" he asks her.
"Well you could call it that. These seals make it so my clothes don't burn!" She exclaims as a slight bump in the car knocks them on the ground. She goes to pick them up when Ed stops her. "What? I don't want to-" She is then interrupted.
"Wait a minute! "He gets down and arranges them in a circle. "It is an Alchemy circle! Just put in a different way," he says with a grin. "lend me that jacket."
Mokou, who is not sure what to think, lends him her jacket. He then transmutes a black sign on the back of it. He made a circle shape from the seals that were on the ground.
"Try burning it," he tells Mokou. She sighs and lights her hands on fire. She then grabs the jacket. To her surprise it didn't burn. He smiles at this. "Thanks to you, we now have an anti burn transmutation circle." He says, having ideas to use this against a certain colonel.
After a half day's ride on the train, they make it to Rush Valley. After they made it to Rush Valley, they met up with a blond hair girl. The blonde hair girl knows how to use a wrench very dangerously. Her name is Winry Rockbell. Another dark haired girl who has two automail legs is named Paninya, and a weird Auto mail mechanic is named Garfield. The trio started walking around town.
"Man I hate it her- So boring- and all I get bugged with are these vultures!" Ed complains as he pushes back a desperate automail mechanic.
"It's not all that bad brother," Alphonse says to Ed.
"Why the heck are you so chipper?" Ed asks.
"Because everyone thinks I am a full body Automail," Al says happily.
"Must be nice not worrying what you are, Al," Mokou says to him.
"Yea… " Ed says as well.
They both turn and look as Al is fidgeting over at the opening between two buildings.
"Al, did you find a stray?" Ed asks as his spit takes a bit.
"Put him back where you found him," he tells Alphonse.
After a lot of food, the poor man was revived enough to talk.
"You three saved my life! Thanks for the Meal, I was Starving!" The man had black hair that swayed to the left side. He wore an open yellow jacket with a flame design and white pants. He also has a wrapped up sword on his belt.
"Um… I never said anything about treating you," Ed says while staring at pile of dishes that was on the table.
"Don't sweat the small stuff," the guy says and Ed flips out.
Mokou chuckles at this and they start talking about the country. She learns the man is from a country across a desert call Xing. Also the country that they called Amestris has ongoing boundary battles with their neighboring countries. Soon the conversation switched to Alchemy. They talked about the differences between it and Rendanshu, another form of Alchemy that grew out of medical practices. Mokou immediately thought of Eirin and scoffed a bit.
"A State Alchemist, Eh? Oh how lucky I am to have met such talented people! My name is Ling Yao! It is an Honor!" The man named Ling says very happy.
"So, about this Rendanshu Alchemy that you were talking about earlier… Could you give us a demonstration?" Edward asks Ling.
"Afraid not. I don't know how to do it," Ling says, making all three anime fall.
"Then what are you researching Alchemy for?" Ed asks, getting back up on his feet.
"Hmm… I'm looking for something. Perhaps you've heard of it…" He says, giving quite a dramatic pause. "The Philosopher's Stone."
The brothers eyes widen.
"I'm dying to get my hands on it. Know where I might find it?" He asks them.
"Nope… No idea. I guess we've both said everything there is to say. See ya." Ed says, turning to walk away.
"Not so fast," Ling says, snapping his fingers.
Two people in black appear to stop Ed and Al from moving. Mokou gets up from her chair but does nothing just yet.
"Clearly you know more than you are letting on. Tell me more, please," Ling asks Ed and Al.
"…Why do you want the Philosopher's stone?" Ed asks Ling.
Ling grins big and wide. "SO I can become immortal," he says promptly.
This made Mokou's eyes widen. Fool is what she thought of him as Ed talks with him. Ed then resists and starts fighting with the person in black. Al tries to talk them out of a fight, but gets sucked into it. As the fight heads off into town, Mokou and Ling stay behind. Mokou slams her hands on the table. "What is the real reason you are looking for immortality?" She asks him, the look in her eyes looking like the flames of hell staring right at him.
"I just need something that looks like immortality so I can gain favor for my clan," he says to her.
"But not the real thing…?" She asks while calming down. Mokou sits down and stares at him.
"Hey old man- Bring me another one of those tasty desserts- and one more for this lovely lady," Ling says in a charming smile. This made Mokou blush a bit. "Just put it on the armor brother's tab."
After Ling left to meet up with the Elric brothers, Mokou heads back to the automail shop and talks with Mr. Garfield until Ling wanders there and collapses in front of the store. When Ed and Al return, Ed nails Ling with his now broken off Automail arm and argues with him till Winry gets back. Soon as she saw the condition that Edward's arm was in, she tries to kill him.
Meanwhile…
In Gensokyo, everything is ready. Nitori and a few other Kappas bring the stuff needed for the transmutation to Marisa's house. Yukari was already there with a pleased look on her face. "Now we'll see why I can't get there," she says with devious grin.
Me: *recovered* thank you for reading *smiles* and yes, Mokou is finally traveling around the world now, but before I go on. A BIG thank you to Kaede-chan. The person I call my sister. *hugs her* Thank you for Writing Lady Shikieiki's parts. X3 and thank you for being my beta reader. While I'm on thanking people. Thank you Ettie-san. X3 for editing my mistakes and pointing out problems in the story.
Mokou: *clears throat.*
Me: ah yes! And thanks to the main character Mokou.. for doing all this. Haha well thank you for reading. Come back for chapter 5