Author's Note: Again:THANK YOU to all who reviewed!! You all truly make my day! My goal is to get 76 reviews! (don't ask about the random number. . .let's just say I had a weird dream. . .) I try to reply to all my reviewers, but if I forgot I'm sorry! (oh yeah! If you're still reading this, thank you for your review O-Annonymous-Reviewer-Danelle. Even though it was really short, it was still appreciated!) A special thanks to Bar-Ohki, AdventureAddict, Kyasarin-Maarukeehii1 (long name), and Havoc's Honey for reviewing every chapter! (I'm so sorry if I forgot anyone! bites nails)
This chapter is dedicated to AdventureAddict for her extremely kind and encouraging review! --is all warm and glowy-- I'm sorry this chapter isn't as funny as the others. . .--feels like she's defeated the entire point of dedicating it-- but there had to be action SOME time. . .I still tried to insert some humor in there. . .
I apologize. . .I'm TERRIBLE at writing action. --
Oh, by the way, you know I'm new here soooo. . .what's a beta, what's it do, and how might I obtain one?
. . . . . . . .And I STILL need ideas here, folks!!!
Disclaimer: They finally caught my inspiration, but it had already sold all the stuff it stole from me, so I still own nothing but my stupid cat. . .sigh. . .
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Why on earth were they doing this anyway? Roy wondered as he crept after the brothers. He could understand somewhat that they wanted revenge, but to actively pursue a dangerous murderer who was hunting them. . . .
The Elrics were insane, he decided.
But then. . .if he were honest with himself, he would have to admit that if this had been Hughes' murderer, Roy would be out here hunting him too.
But still, he huffed, that was completely different. He was a trained military officer who had fought in the Ishbalan War. They were just children.
All that aside—he slapped himself for letting his mind wander—how did they expect to FIND Scar anyway? The military had been searching for months to no avail. Oh well. These were the Elrics—he was sure they had something up their sleeve.
"Hey, Brother," Alphonse whispered, "How are we gonna find Scar anyway?"
The smaller boy stopped dead in his tracks.
". . . .Brother?"
"Uhhhhhhhhh. . . ."
Roy felt like shooting himself. . .or possibly shooting Edward Elric. They really had no plan other than sneaking out and hoping they ran into him??
"Well," Edward started, "Scar's looking for us, right? All we have to do is make ourselves easy to find and he will come to us."
Roy sighed. Why had he bothered to find these two anyway? Now he was doomed to a night of wandering aimlessly around the city.
"Well he should have heard we're back in town—the military made such a big fuss about it—so we'll hang around the areas we've fought him before."
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They had been meandering around the city for several hours and were coming up on the library when Roy's heart stopped. He couldn't believe it.
There, slowly emerging from the shadows, was the familiar shape of Scar. Good lord, the Elrics' inane plan had actually worked.
The two parties caught sight of each other at the same moment.
"You. . ." Ed snarled, barely coherent in his rage.
"The Fullmetal Alchemist. I heard you were back in Central. How fortunate to find you so soon."
Ed clapped and a blade sprang from his automail arm, "Bastard, what did you do to Colonel Mustang?!" He leapt at the older man, slashing.
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Roy pranced in frustration as he watched the three crazed people destroy the surrounding landscape in their attempt to destroy each other. He wanted to help, but what could a horse do?? Kicking was about his only option, and he sincerely doubted he would actually be able to hit anyone.
He grimaced. The fight was not going well. Edward was wild with anger and was fighting carelessly, forcing Alphonse to focus on protecting him instead of on attacking Scar.
Suddenly a deafening explosion nearly knocked him off his feet. With a great effort, he overcame his instinctive desire to bolt as an entire building collapsed.
"BROTHER!!"
Dreading what he might see, Roy turned. Alphonse was digging frantically at a pile of stone and Roy caught a glimpse of a white-gloved hand protruding from the rubble.
Oh no. . .Roy breathed. Alphonse was totally focused on rescuing his brother and had forgotten about Scar. Well. . .he sucked in a breath, time to see just how well this kicking thing worked. He sighed inwardly as he ran forward. At least he'd have the advantage of surprise, he mused bitterly.
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"Big brother!!" Al cried, anguished, as he pulled the smaller boy from the rubble.
"You would do well to worry about yourself."
Al whirled around just in time to see a glowing red arm right in front of him. He didn't have time to dodge. Tightening his grip on Ed, he prepared to take the hit when suddenly Shadow appeared out of nowhere and kicked Scar squarely in the back. Al could only blink in surprise as Scar flew away and Shadow charged straight for him and Ed. Before he knew what was happening, Shadow, his head lowered, ran into him, knocking Al over onto the horse's back.
"AAAAHHHHH!!!" Al yelled, wrapping an arm desperately around Shadow's neck as he was about to slip off. With his other arm, he kept a firm grip on Ed's unconscious body. Twisting around as far as he dared, he peeked behind them and saw Scar rising from the ground and starting to give chase.
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Ow, ow, ow, ow. . .Roy ran frantically, a huge, spiky suit of armor sliding all around as it lay on his back. Running full-speed into Alphonse had perhaps not been the wisest course of action, but he couldn't think of any other way to get the giant boy onto his back. Even now, as Alphonse was starting to get into a more secure position, Roy was slowly strangling from the death-grip the boy had on his neck.
Suddenly, the street started exploding underneath his feet. . .hooves. A strange scream broke from his throat as the horse's instincts took over and he bolted wildly, his ears plastered to his skull.
"AAHHHH!!!" Al screamed again, digging his knees into Roy so he wouldn't fly off. The pain of Al's knee-spikes slicing into him only added to the horse-side-of-Roy's panic. Hooves scrabbling madly on the cobblestones, Roy careened down the street as Scar sent explosion after explosion after them. Shrapnel rained down on them, but Roy ignored the pain.
As the ground exploded in spikes beneath him, Roy suddenly felt a searing agony in his hind leg. It buckled and sent Roy and his riders tumbling forward. Through sheer determination—and a good deal of the horse's panic—Roy scrambled to his feet again and kept running. Scar was getting farther and farther away; they had almost lost him.
The fall had jarred Fullmetal awake, and the boy was now yelling in confusion.
"AH! What the heck?!! Al, what's going—AH!!"
Roy skidded around a corner, coming dangerously close to crashing into a house. Flecks of sweat were streaming off of him, and his breath was coming in great, panting gasps.
After running flat-out for another twenty minutes, Roy's body decided that it had had enough, and he collapsed in the middle of a small, dark alley. Gulping down air, Roy decided that he really didn't care much for the horse's panic instinct.
Alphonse and Edward rolled off of him shakily. Now that the adrenaline was fading, Roy could feel every cut and scrape and abrasion and puncture wound (why, oh why did Alphonse have to have spikes on his knees. . .and elbows. . .and shoulders. . .and feet. . .and. . . . .don't think about it.) His whole body was ablaze with pain, especially his hind leg.
"You okay, Al?"
"Yes, I'm fine, how are you?"
Ed laughed weakly, "For having a building fall on me, I'm doing really well, actually." He winced, "Other than a few cuts and broken ribs and maybe a concussion. . ." he touched his head gingerly, "I think I'm okay. What happened?"
Al chuckled self-consciously and rubbed the back of his head, "Shadow saved us!"
"Huhn?"
"Scar was about to get me, but suddenly Shadow came up and kicked him away. Then he carried both of us away." As if only then remembering that Roy was there with them, Alphonse turned quickly to him. "Oh yeah, how are you, boy?" He stroked Roy's nose gently. This action somehow drew a small, whimpering noise out of Roy, much to his chagrin.
"Hey," Al turned to his brother, "Shadow's pretty beat up. He's bleeding all over."
"Oh geez, Al, come here."
Al circled around behind Roy and sucked in a breath when he saw the foot-long chunk of wood buried in Roy's flank.
"Oh, poor Shadow!" Al exclaimed as he reached forward, gingerly touching the wood. "It's okay, boy" he said slowly and soothingly, "It'll be okay, let me just get this out. . ."
Roy clenched his teeth as he felt Al wrap his hand around the shaft. With an explosion of excruciating pain, Al ripped the spike out of him. Try as he might, Roy could not hold back a scream.
"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay. . ." Al was stroking him, trying to calm him down. Roy's whole body was shivering from pain and exhaustion. What had possessed him to follow these two in the first place, a part of his brain wondered. Then again, argued another part, if he hadn't come, then both Elrics would most likely be dead right now.
"Where are we, anyway?" Ed looked around.
"I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention. But we need to get you to a hospital, and Shadow to. . .to a vet or something." Alphonse was still stroking him, one hand on his nose, the other running down his neck.
"FOUND YOU!!" (1)
All three of them screamed and whirled around at the sudden voice above them. Standing on the roof above them was that boy from Xing, grinning triumphantly. What was his name? Roy racked his brain. Lin. That was it.
Lin jumped nimbly down into the alley beside them and was followed by his bodyguard Lanfan. "We've been looking all over the city for you!" He slapped Ed affectionately on the back. The other boy just gaped at him, jaw hanging.
"You. . .you. . .!" Ed waved a finger in Lin's direction, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!" he finally managed to blurt out.
Lin put on a hurt look, "Well, that nice lady Lt. Hawkeye figured that you'd run away from your bodyguards, so she asked us to keep an eye on you."
"Since when have YOU ever done what the military told you?!"
"Since they started feeding me!" Lin grinned broadly and held up two fingers in a peace sign.
More gaping.
"Unbelievable." Ed threw up his hands in defeat. Then immediately winced and clutched his chest.
"You're hurt?" Lin stepped forward, his brow furrowing ever so slightly.
"Nah, it's nothing much." Ed grimaced, trying to grind out a nonchalant smile and failing miserably. "But hey, um, are you any good with horses? This one's in pretty bad shape."
Lin walked over to examine Roy and suddenly frowned. "This. . .is your horse?" He asked slowly.
Ed cocked his head, "Er, yeah, kinda. I guess. Why?"
"Not much. It's just. . .something feels strange about this horse." Lin shrugged, "Anyway, there's not much I can do, only numb the pain a bit." He produced a small jar from out of nowhere and, dipping two fingers in, rubbed a strange-smelling paste over the wound on Roy's flank. Immediately a cool sensation spread across his skin and the pain subsided to a dull ache. With a grunt, Roy heaved himself to his feet.
"I'll call a vet for Shadow once we get you to the hospital," Al said as he picked up his injured brother.
"Yeah. . ." Ed was starting to feel light-headed from the blood-loss and the more-than-likely concussion.
Together, the group headed for Central's hospital. Roy limped along behind, not knowing what to make of the odd glances that Lin and Lanfan kept tossing his way.
Finally, hours later, when the sky was just beginning to lighten with hints of the sun, Roy was back in the stable where he started—in a different stall, of course, as his was properly smashed. He had surprisingly few bandages for the number of injuries he had. Most of the smaller cuts had just been given a dab of salve and left alone. Only the wound on his leg had needed major attention, and the vet had spent a long time stitching it up and bandaging it.
With an exhausted sigh, Roy knelt down in the straw and immediately fell asleep, trying not to think about the total mess he was in.
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Author's Notes: (1.) If I was REALLY mean I would have just ended the chapter there. Heh heh heh. Fortunately for you all, I'm not the type of writer who's really into cliffhangers. I'm hoping that people will like the story enough in its own right that they will come back even if there isn't a cliffhanger. (wonders idly if her hope is completely unfounded). . .
Also, I know that timeline-wise this story doesn't exactly work 'cause by the time Roy meets Lin, Havoc's already paralyzed. --crawls into a corner and sobs for a while-- But I just love Havoc too much to not have him in the story. Please forgive the slight inconsistency. –bows--
(By the way, what IS Lin's name?! I've seen it as Lin, Rin, and Ling.)