Chapter Five of "The Omega Stone" by Melinda-chan
"Edward, what did you say?" Sarah asked.
"I heard a few gunshots" Brother answered. "It was from the direction of the village, so I got out of the bath as quickly as I could, and I really liked it."
"Was it from one gun, two guns or more?" Sarah inquired.
"There was definitely more than one gun," Brother replied. At that, Sarah nodded.
"I was afraid of this," she said. "Follow me." We then followed her to the study room. She then went under the table.
"What are we going to do?" I asked. I then saw Sarah take out a rifle case. "Is that what I think it is?"
"The military have been in our village before," Sarah said. "Our village have been in arms, literally, since then."
"Your village will not stand a chance against them-" Brother started to say when Sarah took out the bullets and started loading the rifle.
"I don't think you should worry about that," Sarah said. She then aimed her rifle to the other side of the wall and fired at it. "It's ready." She then reloaded it.
"Do you really think that your village would attack the military?" Brother asked.
"I hope not," Sarah replied. "But I've been warned about a possible conflict. I'm not really a prophetess, but I know that things can get very ugly if it hasn't gone that far already." She then looked at Brother. "Did you get your clothes?"
"I heard the gunshots so I wrapped myself around the waist and ran back here" Brother explained. She then looked at me.
"Go out and get his clothes!" Sarah ordered me.
"Oh yes!" I said. I was about to leave when I heard her say, "Don't forget the other stuff!"
I ran as fast as my armoured body could take me, right to the water hole. I saw that he used the soap and washcloth but his clothes weren't touched since he took them off.
'I don't hear anything,' I thought as I put everything in the tub. Of course, I couldn't smell any gunpowder or blood, so I had no idea what happened or if anybody was killed.
I went back to the shack and found Sarah showing Brother how to use the rifle. I was surprised to see the interest that Brother showed. I don't think Brother as a violent person (short-tempered person, yes) though I suppose there was nothing else to do until I came back.
"Brother! Sarah!" I said. I then put down the tub.
"Good!" Sarah said. She then gave the tub to Brother. "Put these on as fast as you can. If you need me to put these on for you, I can-"
"I can do it myself," Brother said. I don't think any girl ever saw him naked (unless Mom counts) and I'm sure that he didn't want Sarah to be the first.
"Very well" Sarah said. She then turned to me. "Alphonse, I want you to do something that's very urgent. You must listen carefully."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Find Father" Sarah said. "Find him and bring him here, Alphonse! I want him safe with us!"
"Yes!" I said.
"Quickly!" Sarah added. I then ran outside, went down the hill and ran back to the village.
I knew that something was wrong when an old man (well, he was in his fifties at least) with a gun in his hand ran at me. I stood there apprehensively.
"Um sir?" I asked. He then looked up at me and then pointed his gun at me. "Sir?"
"You're with the State Alchemist kid?" the old man asked. I put up my armoured hands. I knew that I wouldn't get hurt, but I was afraid that the ricochet could hurt the man.
"Don't shoot me sir!" I said. "Why do you want to know?"
"You called the military here, didn't you?" the man said. "Now, they came here to control this town again. I know that we cannot hide forever, but did you had to make them come here now? We're literally up in arms over this. We've had enough of the military! Now that we're rebelling, everything will be like when they came here before. I'm just an old man!" He then sobbed.
"I really feel for you, believe me," I said. "I've seen what some of them have done. I didn't agree with Brother when he decided to become a State Alchemist, but we have to pursue our own path, and I didn't want to leave Brother behind."
"He's still a dog of the state," the man said, shaking his head. "And now, Sarah wants to be one too. How many more of our young folk will follow your brother?"
I was about to speak when I realized that the man was crying again. I then felt bad. When Brother decided to become a State Alchemist, he became the youngest ever to succeed. But by doing so, he had caused other young people to believe that they can do it too. I don't know how many more had done it so far, but even Sarah herself said that she knew about Brother becoming a State Alchemist when he was twelve. If it weren't for him, she might've waited until she was older. I know that Sarah was aware of what lies ahead of her, but how many others would have the same foresight?
"Speaking of Sarah, do you know where her father is?" I asked.
"Ever since they came, everyone have been scattered about," the man said. "I don't know where he is. He might not be even alive."
"What?" I said. "The military wouldn't killing people at random-"
"Why not?" the man said. "They did during the war." I was about to reply to that when he shook his head. "I'm an old man. I've seen enough horror to send me to my grave. If you can just get them to leave, please do." I was about to say something in response but realized that I've wasted enough time and started walking away. I then heard him say, "And don't come back!"
'How rude!' I thought as I walked away. Still, I know why he reacted like that. This whole village was like a bomb waiting to go off and Brother and I was the spark that ignited it.
As I walked, I saw more signs of a revolt- smoke from houses, blood stains on walls and the ground, walls painted with slogans like "FOR ISHBAL!" and "PAY BACK TIME!" I then felt a bit nervous. I better find Sarah's father soon and get us both out of here.
I then saw a couple of soldiers walking. When they saw me, they pointed their rifles at me. I put up my hands, not wanting them to see me as a threat.
"Please don't shoot!" I said. "You can't shoot me anyway. Your bullets will bounce off me."
"Who are you then?" the redhead asked.
"I'm Alphonse Elric," I replied. "I'm the younger brother of Edward Elric." Would they believe me? I thought.
"Edward Elric? You mean the Fullmetal Alchemist?" the redhead said.
"Yes!" I replied. They then looked at each other and looked back at me.
"Where's your older brother?" the redhead asked.
"He's with the State Alchemist candidate," I replied. "Do you know where your commander is?"
"General Hakuro is at the community hall," the brown-haired man said.
"Do you know where that is?" I asked. I was then led to the community hall where it was surrounded by guards. I then walked inside and saw him talking to a bunch of soldiers, likely giving orders.
"General Hakuro?" I said. He then turned to look at me. I saw that he was trying to remember who I was. "I'm Alphonse Elric, the younger brother of Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist."
"I was told that Colonel Mustang did send someone to this place," Hakuro said. "You two doing your job?"
"Yes, sir" I said. "Actually, I'm here to see a if man called Roger Somers is here. He's the father of the State Alchemist candidate we had to go and see. She wants to know if he's still here."
"We've had a lot of activity going on," Hakuro explained. "We had to take down a lot of rebels lately. I don't think I've heard of the man. Do you know what he looks like?"
"He has brown hair and light blue eyes," I said. I then thought of something else. "Sir, what is happening here? I was aware that many people here don't like the military but Brother got sick and-"
"If he's sick, then we must ensure that he get back to Central safely," Hakuro said. "When we got here, a bunch of those nuts came and tried to drive us out of this place. We had a job to do so we stayed put. Still, I can't believe how many weapons they had. It seemed as if they were prepared for us for a very long time. As I said, we got many of them but it looks like I have to keep a few patrols around to ensure the peace. Where does this woman that Colonel Mustang sent you two to evaluate live anyway?"
"First of all, she's only 12," I said. Hakuro looked shocked.
"I thought that she was 21!" he roared. "What's with his obsession with 12-year olds?"
"I don't know sir," I said. I would've sighed if I had air to sigh with. I then heard Hakuro sigh.
"Fine. Where does this girl that Colonel Mustang sent you two to evaluate live anyway?" Hakuro asked.
"It's on a hill" I told him. "It's on the left side of the village. There's a sign before you get there-"
"Did you hear any shooting when you were there?" Hakuro asked.
"Brother said that he heard a few gunshots when he was at the water hole," I said. "He said that it sounded like a skirmish." Hakuro then looked sad.
"Now it's beginning to make sense" Hakuro said. "Alphonse, I have to show you something."
"What is it?" I asked. Hakuro then looked at two of his men, who nodded. He then looked back at me.
"Come with me," Hakuro said. I had a bad feeling about this, but I went with him anyway.
He and the two soldiers then took me to a makeshift morgue at the back of the hall. I then went inside one of the tents. If I had my lungs back, I would've gasped.
There were rows and rows of corpses. All of them were covered with a white sheet. Some had spots of blood on them.
"How could you've killed so many people?" I couldn't help saying to Hakuro.
"Not all of these people were killed by my soldiers," Hakuro said. "There have been in-fighting as well."
"In-fighting?" I asked. "You mean that they're actually killing each other?"
"Factions without a doubt," Hakuro said. "I don't know what happened initially because we weren't here yet but it seemed that even a State Alchemist made these people nervous. Your older brother fell ill so we had to come to make sure that you both went back to Central safely. It seemed, though, that the people thought our presence was a prelude to an attack."
"But why would you get an entire squad to get us?" I asked.
"You didn't hear me," Hakuro said. "We're here to make sure that you two return safely, because we know that some people here would do if we didn't. Fortunately, not all of them were against us. But it has caused a little civil war in this town." He then took me to one of the white blankets at the far left side of the tent and motioned one of the soldiers to remove the blanket. The man did just so.
If I had my eyes, I would've cried right then.
"I see," I said. "You can cover him back now." The soldier did as I said. "Where is he going to be buried?"
"I don't want him to be buried here," Hakuro said. "Who knows what these people would do to his grave. His wife was buried in East City anyway."
"Do it then" I said. "Let him be buried with his wife."
"We got to make sure that we got all of the rebels," Hakuro said. He then paused. "Did the girl have any other living relatives?"
"I don't think so," I said.
"Tell her that she can go to Central with you two then" Hakuro said. "I'll call Colonel Mustang and tell him what happened. Tell her that we did the best to prevent this and we're sorry." I could tell that he was trying to sound sincere.
"I will," I said. "Thank you for everything." I then left the tent and headed back to the hill. I didn't want to stay in this place any longer. I quickly went to the shack, where I saw Brother walking toward me.
"Al, is he still alive?" Brother asked.
"Brother, we need to talk" I said. Brother then knew what I was going to say next.
"He's dead, isn't he?" Brother asked in a low voice. If I had my eyes, I would've broken down in tears.
"Remember when you heard gun shots?" I asked. Brother became aghast.
"He was killed right then?" Brother asked. I said nothing. "Those damn bastards! I should've went over and killed them all!"
"NO!!" I shouted. "If you did that, you would've been killed too! I don't know why he wanted to go here, but it may have to do with the revolt. Maybe he wanted to warn Sarah or us about it!"
"Yeah, I know" Brother said. "So how are we going to tell her?"
"I don't know," I said. I then saw her standing by the doorway. I then became very still.
"What is it, Al?" Brother asked. He then turned around and saw Sarah looking at us as if we had struck her in her heart. We probably did.
"I know everything now," Sarah said. "When I felt only your footsteps, Alphonse, I knew that he was dead." I said nothing. "Tell me, was the gun shots that your older brother heard, was my father the one that got shot?"
"Yes" I said. She immediately burst into tears and went back to the shack. I wanted to run after her but then I saw Brother hanging down his head.
"We really messed up, didn't we?" Brother asked.
"Yes, I mean no!" I said. "I mean, this did happen because of us, but we shouldn't be blaming ourselves. If everyone didn't try to attack the military, we wouldn't have to deal with this!" I felt like banging my head against the wall. Was I making sense anymore?
"Yeah" Brother said. "Let's go to General Hakuro now." He sounded very depressed.
"We should go tell Sarah that she can come with us if she wants to-" I started to say when Brother shook his head.
"We already messed up her life" Brother said. "We should just go back without her."
"Brother, we should go then" I said.
"Yeah" Brother said. "Let's go now." We then went to General Hakuro. Since it was him that ordered us to get her, he wasn't happy when he saw us alone.
"Listen, I know what it feels like losing a father," he said. "I've been there. But I also know that there's a bunch of those idiots still out there so don't come back without her, do you got that?"
"Al, why didn't you tell me we were ordered to take her?" Brother asked. He sounded like his cold was returning again.
"I'm so sorry!" I said. I would've cried if I could. I then saw Brother stop. "What's wrong, Brother?"
"SARAH!" I heard Brother shout. I then looked at the hill and saw a big ball of smoke go up into the air.
"A fire! Brother, could she be- Brother!" I said. I then saw him leave, so I ran after him. He was trying to run up the hill as fast as he could. He was still sick, so he only succeeded in making himself more exhausted. I had to pick him up and carried him up the hill. Despite his loud protests, I managed to get both of us up the hill before Brother decided to get off me and run to the burning shack.
"SARAH!" Brother yelled. He then stopped; the flames kept him from going further. I had no choice but to take over. I punched at the burning debris.
"SARAH!" I yelled. I didn't see or hear her. I then went back as a flame got closer, even though I couldn't feel it. Maybe it was just my human instincts or the fear that the blood rune inside my suit of armour would melt or burn. In any case, Brother became petrified.
"Al, get out of there!" I heard him yell.
"Okay!" I said. I then went back to Brother. "Do you smell anything burning, Brother?"
"I don't smell any flesh if that's what you mean," Brother said. "Maybe she escaped. If that's the case, then we should go back." He then stopped speaking and walked to a stone.
"What is it, Brother?" I asked. I then saw him pick a piece of paper from underneath the rock. I went beside him. "What does it say, Brother?"
"I think this is from Sarah," Brother said. "This looks like a map, but I can't figure out what these circles are." I then looked at the piece of paper.
It did look like a map- a cragged circle with a little knick off the north, likely because of the Brigg Mountains. As I looked at the circles, it then came to me what they may be.
"Brother," I said. He then looked up at me. "She wants us to know where she's going, so maybe she's telling us when she might arrive."
"Seven circles, oh, seven suns!" Brother said. "If that's true, then this means that she'll be at Central within a week! We should go back to Central as soon as possible!"
"Still, what happened to her shack?" I asked.
"There was no lightning strike," Brother said, observing the site. "It looked like it was burnt down on purpose."
"Maybe she did it so no one would find out about her research," I suggested.
"Al, you didn't say that we burned our house down to her, did you?" Brother asked.
"No, I don't think so," I said. I then looked at the wreckage. "But she's so much like us, don't you think?"
"Yeah" Brother said. He then looked up at me. "Let's go." I nodded.
"Okay," I said. I then heard Brother cough. "Are you alright?"
"I'm getting better, but I think I need another day of rest," Brother said.
"I guess General Hakuro will get mad at us again," I said. Brother then started walking down the hill. "Brother!"
"What is it, Al?" Brother asked.
"I should carry you down," I said. "You're still sick."
"I'll just be careful," Brother said. I then looked at the shack. It was still burning.
"Do you think she'll be alright?" I asked.
"I believe so," Brother said. "In any case, we can't worry about her now. She got her own destiny. We just have to reach our own."
"I know," I said. I could imagine her travelling alone, with perhaps only a bag for her long trip to Central. Would she arrive safely?
"Al, there's nothing we can do," Brother said as if he knew what I was thinking. "I got enough information for the Colonel. I just hope that would be enough to satisfy him."
"We should go," I said. "If she's going to Central, we have to inform the Colonel so someone will keep an eye on her arrival."
"Yeah," Brother said. "Let's get going." We then started walking. "I just hope that she knows what she's doing. At least she got legs to carry her there." I didn't say anything for a minute.
"I still think I should carry you down" I said. Brother gave me a dirty look.
"I'm perfectly fine by myself," Brother said. He then turned his head at me as he continued to walk. "I can just go down on my-" He then fell down the hill. I ran to the edge as quickly as I could.
"Brother!" I yelled. I then looked down and would've laughed if I had the throat to do so. Brother was doing cartwheels down the hill. He stopped when he hit a rock.
"Brother, are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah" Brother said. "My butt and this rock stopped my fall!" He then tried to move his right arm. "I think I broke my automail! Winry's going to kill me!"
'Oh brother,' I thought. I then went down and helped Brother get up and go down the hill. It wasn't long before we were on a train to Central.
End of Chapter Five
I like to thank Rayame325 and Doko-sama for reading and reviewing the fic so far. I'm so excited that the next chapter will be the last chapter of this fic. Since I only had a few people reviewing, I'll just have review replies and author notes. Once again thanks to all who read and reviewed so far. Fullmetal Alchemist was created by Hiromu Arakawa and distributed by Square Enix and Viz Media. Don't forget to review!