I am SO sorry.. I didn't realize it'd been a month since I updated... (Sweatdrop Here)
The Lovely Daaaarlings!
Mira Hinder: Hehe, it's always funny when you're the one behind it. XD
Lulukiryu: Yepp, Scar's got himself a new owner, haha! Lawlz! That sounds exactly like Riley's relationship with Hannah! XD
Emalee Roze: Hehe... And yeah, he killed her parents... Funny thing is, I kinda like Kimblee for the most part. Well, not in this story obviously. XD Hehe, thanks!
Kaijukote: Oh yeah, he'll be pissed alright. XD Yeah, he definitely has no favor for Ishbalins. Or the Rebellion Army, apparently. Thanks, I try! I think it's fun trying keep FMA characters in character(Probably because I've watched the series about four times. XD") And then Riley/Hannah thing will actually start in this chapter. Ah, thanks! XD
hyourin-kusabana: Thanks! X3
5FIVES: Heh, thanks! I quite like their little friendship they've got going on. XD
Merenwen Melwasul: I'm glad you like it! Sorry it was a bit hard to follow though. I was using a bit of a different technique for that chapter.
White Wing Alchemist: Hah XD I doubt Scar would back off of Ed, seeing as he'd keep it strictly between him and Riley(as an excuse to specifically keep going after Ed.)
A special shout-out to KiaUruzuki from Quizilla for giving me a list of Bulgarian numbers!
Want to Be a Lovely Daaaarling? Review! Bwahaha!
Yay! I finally got a USB Data Port.. XD I finally have backup for my stories. I'm so happy.
I do NOT own FullMetal Alchemist. You do NOT own Riley and Co. Hehe, I used "Co".
Chapter Nineteen:
Ed's Ultimatum
"Trick or treat!" Hannah said, smiling as the door opened. She blinked in confusion at the man standing before her. "Hello Mr. Hughes!" She said, nodding at him.
Maes smiled as he put his jacket on, "Hey Hannah! Where's Riley?"
Hannah sighed, "Her and Ed got into a fight again."
He smiled and nodded. "I see," He said, "I think it'll work out. Ed's like that with people."
The girl smiled at him, "I hope you're right!" He patted her head casually as he left the house, giving her some candy before he did.
Hannah turned to walk off when she saw an officer saluting her. "Uh... Hello?" She mumbled, confused.
"Ma'am! I was sent to look after you by Major Mauler!"
. . .
"My my my..," We heard a woman say. I snapped out of thinking about that flashback, and looked up. A woman with black hair stood there, adorned in a black dress which showed too much skin(So I thought), and a short, fatter man stood there. The man had red lines going down his arms, and the woman had the Ouroboros on her chest. "This day is just filling up with all sorts of unpleasant interruptions."
"Who are they?" Al asked.
Scar glared at them, "You again." I blinked; He knew these two? "This time you're going to tell me why you have that face. My brother's work. Did he succeed in bringing you back?"
"What are you talking about?" The woman questioned, bored.
The man smiled, "Can I eat them now?"
The woman smirked, "I don't know.. The armored one might give you indigestion."
I growled, glaring at her. Who did she think she was?! "Who the hell are you two?!" I shouted.
"The homunculi," Scar said simply, and my eyes widened.
"Th-They couldn't be..," Al said, just as shocked.
Suddenly, the woman extended her nails, and I let out a gasp. "You..!" I murmured.
She smirked and ran forward. Before I could react, she had passed me and was aiming for Al, which sent him through the wall. The fat man had went for Scar.
I covered my head to avoid the dust and when I looked back up, I ran through the hole in the wall. Al would need my help before Scar. By the time I had gotten in there, I saw the woman extend her nails at Al, who was shoved against a wall because of it. I looked to Al to see if he was okay, when the short man grabbed a hold of Al from behind.
"Can I eat him now?" He asked, smiling wide, which creeped me out just a bit. He then took a bite of Al. Took.. A.. Bite...?! My eyes widened as my brow twitched. That was abnormal.
"Hey!" I shouted angrily, running to Al's aid. Halfway there though, something long, narrow, and sharp shoved itself into my shoulder. Letting out a yell of pain, I turned my glare onto the woman. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" I shouted, holding my shoulder.
She smirked and replied with, "A bit repetitive, are we? If you must know, call me Lust."
I rolled my eyes despite the pain. "That's no surprise considering that get-up," I replied through gritted teeth.
Lust's nail extended more, and I gritted my teeth in pain. "Is there something wrong with my outfit?" She asked calmly.
"Not at all, for a prostitute," I replied. Okay, yes, maybe I shouldn't have kept provoking her, but I couldn't help it. I was pissed at her and if this was what it took to let some anger out, then so be it.
I let out a yelp as the nail broke through my shoulder, wedging itself into the wall behind me. "You of all people giving fashion advice. How ironic," She muttered.
. . .
"And where's the scarred man?" Lust asked the man, who I learned to be Gluttony. She was currently sitting on Al, which in turn fueled my anger, but I could do nothing as she had a nail in my shoulder, keeping me against the wall. I was going to get an infection and have to have my arm cut off after this, I just knew it.
Gluttony stepped toward her with a reply, "He fell into the bad place."
Bad place? What the hell is the Bad Place? And Scar fell into it? So it was underground..? Ugh, too many questions to be asked in my head at the moment.
"Really?" Lust started, "That's no big loss. Greed may show up to put a wrench in things at any moment. We've gotta get FullMetal boy to hurry up while we can."
Greed? What's with these names? By the name though, I could tell it was most likely another homunculus. I began to think over it. Was Greed a bad guy or a good guy? If he was bad, wouldn't he want to help them? Then again, he was Greed, so he may have wanted to stop them just to do it himself. I didn't really know.
"He has a name, you know," I spoke up, glaring at Lust. She only sighed and twisted her wrist, causing her nail to make an even bigger injury to my shoulder. "S-Stop it!" I whined, wincing.
"Then stop talking," She replied calmly.
Che. She didn't know who she was telling to stop talking.
. . .
Lust and Gluttony dragged Al and me down the hall for several minutes, till we got to another set of doors. Lust went in as Gluttony watched us. He was mainly holding onto Al. I was planning my next move. I refused to give up just yet. Finally, I made a run for the doors. The closer I got, I heard Lust call someone Envy. "Hey!" Gluttony shouted, rushing after me. He grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me back. When all I did was stumble and continue to run, he used my hair to pull him forward. Landing behind me, he sunk his teeth into my injured shoulder.
I yelled as I found myself falling to my knees on the ground after he let go. "Yum!" He said, smiling as he grabbed my arm and pulled me up, creating another yell from me. He then dragged both Al and me through the doors as I heard Lust say, "I think you have no choice in the matter, Edward." I looked ahead of me and saw several convicts. They looked nothing short of scared.
Gluttony dropped Al to the ground as he held onto my arm. I looked around till my eyes landed on Ed. His eyes widened at the sight of Al as he shouted, "Al!"
"These people.. They're.. Homunculi!" Al said.
Ed's eyes shook as he repeated Al, surprised, under his breath. A half-man, half-..Creature.. Walked up toward us as he and Ed talked. It was mainly over memory implants. I wasn't really listening. I was looking around, trying to piece everything together. "It still won't be the real Nina!" Ed shouted.
A dude.. Er.. I guess, spun his leg around, kicking Ed in the face. I had just noticed him there. He had long black hair, and wore a black skirt and tube top which would no doubt give me nightmares later. That must've been the Envy that Lust was talking about. I growled, and twisted my arm out of Gluttony's grasp as Ed was thrusted backwards. "Don't touch him!" I shouted, rushing forward.
Envy looked over at me and stepped backward as I threw my fist at him. With one hand, he grabbed my wrist, and the other, he grabbed the back of my neck. He spun around, tossing me toward the ground as he did. I stumbled forward but caught myself and turned back to him, throwing my foot at his face. He ran around my leg, and toward me. He reached forward, grabbing my knee and in some complicated move, he had me facing the ground, going down.
Before I could catch myself, he grabbed hold of my injured shoulder, and shoved downward. I yelled as I landed, but he didn't stop. He shoved down further, and I yelled once again. "Leave her alone!" I heard Ed shout, before feeling the weight let up. Looking up quickly, I saw Envy fall onto the ground a few feet away.
Ed bent down beside me, helping me sit up. "Worry less about your girlfriend, and more about you," Envy retorted with a lazy smirk as he began to make his way over. Ed grabbed my good shoulder and stood up, pulling me along.
"Go," He muttered, glaring at Envy as he pushed me back. I would've protested but for once, logic was dictating over instinct, so I headed to Al and them. Reluctantly.
Within seconds, Envy had Ed on the ground again. It pissed me off, because I wasn't sure why Envy had such a hold over Ed. Was it that Ed was just angry? Or did Envy truly have that much more strength over him? Over all of us fighting?
"This pointless fighting stops here," Envy said, "So, pipsqueak. Why don't you shut up and get to work on the transmutations now? You can start by fixing the ceiling."
"I'm embarrassed to admit it, but our group is incapable of using alchemy. We have to rely on others to do it for us," Lust said, sighing.
I blinked in confusion as Ed replied with, "Then what's the point? What could you possibly do with a Philosopher's Stone?" When Lust didn't reply, Ed's eyes narrowed, "The same as Cornello, huh? Let me guess. You've got a God complex and a desperate need for world domination."
Lust smiled a bit and replied calmly, "I want to become a human. Nothing more."
I was having no problem keeping up with the conversation until then. Where was Scar, was he okay? Who was Cornello? If that's all these homunculi want, to be human, why didn't they just propose an offer with an alchemist instead of killing people? There were several questions going through my head. Too many questions. I was on the verge of severe blood loss, I was sure, and at the same time, trying to figure out a puzzle that was giving more pieces, and less places to put them.
"Stop it, you can't do that, he's still a human being!" Ed shouted, roughly bringing me back in on the conversation. I looked around, and saw Lust holding up the armor who I didn't know. She began to scratch at his seal.
"No..," I muttered before running over. Gluttony, spotting me on the move, spun around and grabbed a hold of my arm. He easily tossed me into the wall, where I fell to the ground and used my still intact arm to keep me sitting up.
"Edward Elric, I want you to-" The armor was interrupted as Lust cut through the metal. He was dead, and gone now. There was no doubt about it.
Lust leaned down, and knocked Al's head off. She placed her finger at his seal. "This won't take long," Lust said with a smirk.
I glared. She was messing with the wrong people. It was then I had mindset on killing these homunculi, no matter what. "No!" Ed shouted at her instantly. "Please don't hurt him! He's my little brother! Please don't take him away, I'm begging you!" I wanted to do something so badly, but I knew if Lust spotted me moving, it'd be just as bad for Al. Not to mention the fact I kept fighting to stay up, let alone stay awake.
"Brother, it's okay! What am I, after all...?" Al exclaimed. This confused me, to say the least. What made him wonder that?
"Don't give up on me now, Al, okay?!" Ed shouted back. He then clapped, and placed his hands on the ground. The rocks glowed a blue color and began to lift, placing themselves back into the ceiling. I hoped that his plan was fix the ceiling, kick their asses, and then run for it; But I knew I was most likely wrong. Al and I were silent as Envy whistled at Ed's job. I'm positive he did it sarcastically, but I wasn't really noticing. Gluttony acted like a sheep dog and scared the prisoners into the circle as Ed began to move the pillars of red water.
Which kinda ruined my theory of Ed's plan, really. Unless he was feeling extra nice and was going to fix the pillars too... Right.
"Brother, no, you can't do this! It's not worth it!" Al shouted at Ed, but it was pointless as Ed ignored him.
Ed continued as Lust said, "That's it, you can do it, Kid. I have faith." What the hell was she, a cheerleader?
"THIS IS CRAZY!" Al shouted loudly.
Ed stood and looked to the prisoners, who cowered a bit when they saw this. I sighed, holding my shoulder, "Ed, you can't do this, you know you can't! You don't have the immorality to kill a dozen men just to get flesh in return!" He stopped, and I blinked. Did that really work? Shrugging, I continued, "You rather miss an arm and leg then have them both while knowing you killed people for it! Al would rather miss a body than know his brother's a murderer! That isn't equivalent exchange!"
Envy had ran toward me, and shoved his knee into my stomach. I let out a yell as he glared at me, "Shut up girl!"
"Riley..!" Ed started, turning to come help, but Lust had moved faster. With a nail at Al's transmutation circle, Ed had no choice to be stop.
"Get back to work, or your precious brother dies," Lust said, agitated.
I tried to punch myself away from Envy, but due to my currently slow speed, he easily kicked me in the face. I yelped as I fell to the ground, now closer on the verge of nothingness. "Brat should keep her mouth shut..," I heard Envy mutter under his breath as he turned back to face Ed.
I began to finally pass out, and just as sound, smell, and sight went blank, I was jerked to awareness by shaking. Slowly forcing myself to sit up, I saw the room shaking, pieces of ceiling crumbling. What happened? Had Ed actually made the stone? Suddenly a huge portion of the ceiling and wall crumbled, and red water came flowing out. I was forcefully moved by the rushing of the red water as it smacked against my back, and my hands began to sting. Really really badly.
Trying as quickly as possible for my state, I stood and looked at my hands to see burns on them. Looking up around me, I saw Scar standing on the roof. Or, well, above us.. Which is technically the roof, but not real-
"FullMetal Alchemist! Take your brother and the girl and get out of here!" Scar exclaimed.
Ed growled before shouting, "I don't need your help!" I almost cried in joy; Ed sounded normal. Stubborn, annoying, and Ed.
"Maybe not but those two need you," Scar replied.
I saw Ed pause, before turning to us. "Alright, let's go!" He said, running toward us.
It was all happy and everything, until Lust butted in. Of course. "Oh no! You aren't leaving until you've finished what you started!"
Ed took one step toward us, and every thought of leaving left me, and Al too I'm sure. The instant Ed's foot hit the ground, the red water glowed as blue light shot up and outward. Ed was frozen, his hair and clothing flying around as he screamed. Through all the noise, I could hear Lust talking. All I heard was, "With all this exposure, he could become a God."
I looked over at her, wide-eyed. "What?!" I shouted in shock. When Lust had to dodge a metal arrow that shot at her, I turned my attention back to Ed. Spikes began to shoot up from the ground and walls randomly, so I ran toward Ed. I had to stop him. Somehow.
Wait.. If my hands had a reaction to the red water, wouldn't they have a reaction to Ed?
Just as I decided to stop running, a spike shot toward me from the ground. I yelped in surprise as I pushed myself backwards, and caused myself to fall back. I slowly sat up, watching Ed. I felt hopeless. I couldn't do anything to help Ed. If I touched him, who knows what would've happened. I couldn't do anything but.. But watch. I hated it. If I even tried to help, I could... Kill him.
"Lieutenant! Wait!" I heard Block's voice shout. I looked over in confusion, and saw Block, Maria Ross, and Armstrong standing there. I never thought I'd be so happy to see Block in my entire life, but there it was. It was then that I saw Maria Ross heading to Ed. I normally would've yelled at her for being an idiot, but as I was about to do the same thing, I stayed quiet. Maria Ross reached Ed, and hugged him. Ed slowly began to come back to normal, and fell limp.
A part of me felt bitter. Jealous, almost. I couldn't do anything to help. Maria Ross had to. No, Maria Ross was able to. I was happy he was safe, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was because of my hands that it didn't stop sooner. It was the first time I've ever felt as though my hands were a disability.
I hated it...
OOOOh. I finally have another rant down here! Hehe.
This is going to make me sound like a hermit that finds things out WAY late, I'm sure. Buuuut...
I love the dark mode for stories!
Hahaha! It is totally gnarly. Being someone who's supposed to be wearing glasses(Insert Shifty Eyes Here), it's very useful when I start getting headaches from reading too much. Which happens on a daily basis. I can now read comfortably. X3 Dark Mode turns the background of stories grey-black, and the letters white. It's actually a fact that reading with a dark background instead of a light one decreases headaches and eye-strain.
Be Responsible. Don't Flame and Drive! Rawr.