Wow, after a long and busy month I've finally got enough time to start writing again. I'm so sorry to everyone who's reading this, who had to wait so long.
The path leading to the West was dark and treacherous. Great chunks of the Yellow Brick Road had been torn up in many places, making it difficult to navigate. The closer to they got to the border, the closer night came. Twisted trees began to speckle the land and large crows swooped in and out of view. Finally, as night covered the land entirely, they came to the border between Central and the West.
"Once we cross this border, we'll be out of the Fuhrer's protection." Lust said. "Before we reach Dante's mansion we'll have to pass through the ruins of West City. Don't walk slowly, don't run ahead, and keep watch for the other Sins."
"We don't need your advice!" Ed yelled out, walking purposely ahead of the group.
"Brother! Don't be like that!" Al said, walking after him.
Lust sighed and said, "Maybe when I have my Life he'll trust me more."
"I wouldn't worry too much. Ed is a good person at heart; he's just a little…judgmental." Winry said. "Let's get going."
About one mile into Dante's territory the Yellow Brick Road disappeared entirely. Dante had obviously not liked the idea of a road leading to her territory from the Fuhrer's HQ. Scorch marks were still evident around the area.
"Where exactly is Dante's mansion?" Winry asked.
"It's on the top of the Great Kells the most impressive mountain range in Amestris. The ruins of West City are in the foothills."
Sure enough, Winry could see the Great Kells rising up in the distance. It would only be another hour at most before they reached the ruins of West City and then only another half an hour climb before they reached Dante's mansion. Winry gulped and tried to run a plan through her head. It wasn't going to be easy, but she felt better running through ideas in her head.
Meanwhile, at the top of the Great Kells in Dante's mansion, Dante herself was watching the group of Yellow Brick Road Irregulars approach her position.
"The fools are coming right to me! No doubt they're on some errand set by the Fuhrer. Well, I'll have a warm welcome waiting for them!" Dante turned to Envy, Gluttony, and Wrath. "Go! Bring me that girl and her dog! Grab them and only them! I'll deal with the rest of them once the shoes are back in my possession! Now fly! Fly!"
Dante laughed as the moment of her triumph approached. The Sins flew out and winged their way towards Winry and the others. They stopped hovering over West City, looking for the group. Luckily, for the Sins, the group was waiting at the border of the city.
"Dante and the Sins did this didn't they?" Winry asked.
Lust, Ed, and Al all nodded.
"It's awful. Why would she cause such destruction? Why would she waste so much human life?"
"Not even we knew why we did the things we did." Lust said. "Dante had some plan in her warped mind, but we could only guess at it."
Before they could say anymore, Envy swooped down and grabbed Winry's arms, lifting her into the air. Gluttony grabbed Den, who began to whine and kick. Ed yelled and tried to jump up and grab onto Envy's retreating foot, but Wrath flew in front of him and slashed him across the arm. Ed fell back and beat at the Sin as he flapped in his face and tried to scratch every part of him he could. Ed managed to pull out his knife and plunged it deep into Wrath's leg. He screamed in pain and flew off, his blood pattering on the dry soil.
"Dammit! They got Winry!" Ed yelled out, slamming his fist against a nearby building.
"What are they going to do to her?" Al asked, fear evident in his voice.
"She'll be taken to Dante." Lust said. "And Dante will do whatever it takes to get those shoes from her."
Winry cried out in fear as she was lifted high into the air. She could hear Envy grunting above her, obviously sweating with the effort.
"Will you shut the hell up?!?!?" He finally yelled at Winry. "It doesn't matter how much you scream, I'm still taking you up there!"
"What's wrong with you people? What do you want from me?"
"Those damn shoes! You'd save all of us a headache if you just take them off!"
"And let Dante have them? Never! I don't know what these shoes do, but they're obviously valuable to her and she'll just use them to cause even more devastation to this land!"
"Fine! Then prepare for a night full of painful tortures! At least I'll have something to look forward too…"
Winry didn't get a chance to give a scathing reply. She was thrown from Envy's arms through a window and onto the floor. She got up and was suddenly face to face with Dante. Dante smiled at her and guided her to a chair. Winry felt herself being forced to sit and Dante sat opposite her. She poured them both a cup of tea and said, "Now, we can be civil women about this can't we?"
She held out the cup and Winry took it, not touching a drop. Dante sipped her from her own cup before setting it aside and bringing over a large book. She flipped it open and turned a few pages. She threw a dark smile Winry's way before saying, "Inside this book are some of the harshest, torturous, and powerful Alchemy I know. If you don't give me those shoes, I'll employ them one by one until there is nothing left but the shoes. Now which will it be?"
Winry shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She knew she couldn't take them off. For whatever reason, they were stuck to her feet. But if she told Dante this, there was no way she would believe her. She had to keep her busy somehow…
"Why do you want these shoes so much anyway?"
Dante closed her eyes and smiled. "Why do I want them? Because they are rightfully mine."
"Just because they belonged to your sister doesn't mean they're yours after she dies!"
Dante laughed and said, "Oh you poor foolish girl! I created those shoes myself all those years ago when I first started studying Alchemy. Or, actually, I came up with the idea for them when I started studying Alchemy."
"I don't understand."
"Well, allow me to enlighten you. I first started studying Alchemy when I was sixteen. That was over four hundred years ago."
"That's impossible! You couldn't possibly be that old!"
"I've preserved my youth all these years with those shoes! You see, I discovered the Elixir of Life! The Philosopher's Stone, as it is known." She stood up and walked over to the fireplace before continuing her story. "I watched for four years as people all around me grew old and died. The sight sickened me and I wished to spare myself that fate. I dove into Alchemy, seeking the answers I needed. After another eight bitter years of searching I discovered one simple fact: To preserve my own life, other lives needed to be sacrificed. So I decided I would sacrifice as many people as it would take to ensure my continued longevity. To accomplish this, I needed to kill en masse. I spent many countless nights studying the complicated process of creating artificial humans. Finally, I did it! I created Envy, my first Sin. With his half Life, his lack of emotions, his blood lust, his claws, and his wings, he would fly and kill for me! My parents were perpetually kept in the dark, not believing their sweet daughter capable of such brutal acts. Unfortunately, Envy was only one creature, and he couldn't kill the amount of people necessary to generate a Philosopher's Stone. So I created three more Sins. Lust, Gluttony, and Greed came to be and more and more lives were destroyed and siphoned into a holding container. By this time, my parents had both died and my determination grew! I would not suffer that same indignity! Luckily, with four Sins at my disposal I was able to collect all the lives I would need to create a Philosopher's Stone. I used all my knowledge of Alchemy and forged the human lives into a stone. But its shine was far too bright, too noticeable! I needed to hide it from the world! So I used a powerful piece of Alchemy to transmute the stone over a pair of shoes. Thus, the Blood Red Slippers came to be!"
Winry looked down at her feet in mute horror. She could almost feel the misery flowing from the shoes. So many human lives sacrificed, and she was wearing them! But she still couldn't remove them and needed to stall for more time, so she said, "But why did you give them to your sister?"
Dante laughed and said, "That wasn't my sister! That thing that was wearing my clothes and my shoes was a Sin! I created her to spread my influence over Amestris, to control both East and West! Did you never notice that Etnad, my so called sister's name, is simply my own name spelled backwards? Sloth proved useful, even though she couldn't use the shoes. Everyone simply saw them as a fashionable present. All it took was for me to visit her every few decades and use the shoes to prolong my life. Now, if you'd be so kind as to hand the shoes over?"
Winry slowly stood up and said, "I'll never give these shoes to you!"
She turned and ran for the door as Dante clapped her hands and placed them on the ground. The door slammed shut and Winry turned around only to see Dante standing directly in front of her, one arm on the doorframe.
"The hard way then. Not all my Sins were as obedient as the ones that brought you here. Greed disobeyed me several times and was taken care of in the proper way."
She clapped her hands and placed them on the floor. The floor opened up and a huge vat of oil rose from the ground. Winry could feel the heat baking off of it and mouthed wordlessly in horror. Dante grabbed her arms and dragged her up a ladder to the lip of the vat. She whispered in her ear, "Once your body is completely melted, the shoes will rise to the surface, unmarred. My life will continue as yours ends. A fitting way to die isn't it?"
Winry didn't have to answer. With a huge crash, two objects came hurtling through the window. Envy and Gluttony both crashed into the walls, their wings ripped off, and bounced into the vat of oil. Soon after, Wrath followed, hitting the ground hard, the stumps where his wings had been bleeding freely. He was sobbing in the carpet, unable to move. Dante snarled and turned to the window in time to see Ed, Al, and her own Sin Lust appear. She sputtered incoherent in her rage. Lust flew over to her and said, "You created me. I can think of no fitter punishment than this."
Before Dante could say anything, do anything, Lust shoved her into the oil. Her screams echoed throughout the castle as her flesh melted from her bones, and her bones melted into sludge. Ed helped Winry down. She was shaking with fear. Ed comforted her and said, "It's all over now. The Fuhrer will be able to grant our requests and go home."
Winry suddenly burst into tears, startling Ed and everyone present. Between the sobs, she managed to tell the awful story about the shoes and Dante's own madness. They were all shocked at what they heard. Ed recovered first and said, "All the more reason to get those shoes off you. Come on, let's go."
Winry stood up and walked over to the table where Dante and she had been sitting. On top of the table was the book of Alchemy that Dante had threatened her with. She paused as she touched it. Was it really a good idea that this book get out into the world? All of what Dante learned was in it as well as transmutations she herself had created, her small, straight letters crammed into the margins. She closed the book and put it away on a bookshelf. Something like this was too powerful to destroy, but also to dangerous to use. Once it was put on the shelf, it looked the same as any other book Dante owned and Winry hoped it would spend the rest of eternity in anonymity. With her task done, Winry and the group left the mansion and began the long trek back to Central City. To prove she had really killed the Wicked Alchemist of the West, Winry brought back the broom. It had a strange symbol on the handle, a mark of Alchemy. That should be proof enough for the Fuhrer.
Finally, she'd be able to go home and leave all of these troubles behind.
I apologize again for how late this is. There's only one chapter left before the end, so I'm almost done. I hope this chapter is enjoyable enough to make up for its lateness.