Cast Iron Alchemist
Chapter 8: Reunion in the South
Simon smiled as he sat in his office. There hadn't been any activity from the Cast Iron Alchemist's group in nearly two months. Though the Fullmetal Brigade wore on in the south, he was confident his newest general could sniff them out. Unfortunately, word of the rebellion was spreading to Central, but it wasn't a threat he couldn't handle. A few graffiti artists and a some delinquints, no more than a minor threat. He laughed, feeling a sense of victory.
Alicia woke up early to get started on breakfast, feeling somewhat happy to be back home at Rockbell Automail. She opened up the drapes to let some light into the room, and saw Anthony sitting outside, reading from his grandfather's journal again. She smiled and walked outside, taking the book out of his hands. "You know normal people do this thing called sleeping, you should try it sometime."
She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him teasingly. Anthony smirked and stood up, trying to take the book back. "Well what are you doing up miss bright and early?"
She giggled and kept the book behind her back as he tried to reach for it. "I'm making breakfast, somebody's gotta keep this group eating healthy."
Anthony kept trying to reach for the book, but she continued to bob and weave as he stretched his arms out. Anthony's foot slipped and he came crashing down on top of her. The two looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh. They helped each other up and Alicia handed back his book. "Why do you read that so much? I thought you'd already finished it."
Anthony nodded and smiled. "The more you read a book, the more you uncover. I told you that before. Through the first read you can understand what's explained, but I couldn't understand everything. Like this passage here, I still can't understand it. 'Lust said that homonculus are vulnerable only when they are near a part of their original body.' I can't even begin to understand it. I don't know who Lust is, nor what a homonculus is."
Alicia flicked his forehead and smiled. "Fool, did you even read those Alchemy books?"
she picked one up and looked at the table of contents, then shuffled through to a passage near the back. "A homonculus is a human soul that has passed on that has been put into a new body. It's like human transmutation in a way. But according to the book homonculus have never actually been created."
Anthony nodded and looked down at his grandfather's journal. "Well this book is full of things that shouldn't have been created, and it lists a lot of homonculus that my grandfather met. Greed, Lust, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, who mimicked their mother. But worst of all was Pride, who masqueraded as President Fuhrer King Bradley, the reason Roy Mustang was falsely executed. The one thing he does note about each of them is that they each had an ouroboros tattoo somewhere on their body. That's how Ed knew they were homonculus."
Alicia sighed and rubbed her head. "Whatever, come on inside and help me with breakfast."
Anthony put the book in his back pocket and walked in with Alicia.
Anthony looked around the table as the group were just finishing breakfast. Before everyone got up, Anthony stood up and put on his philosopher glove. "Everyone, before we split up for the day, I want to show you all something."
The group looked over at Anthony, waiting to see what he wanted to show them. Anthony pulled out a philosopher's stone, the last one they had. He dropped it into his palm and closed his hand around it. With a flash of bright red light, the stone turned to red water, drizzling out of his closed palm. Anthony stood there, staring at his hand as he opened it, standing strong and conscious. Everyone looked at him and smiled, they all knew what this meant. "It's time, Everyone pack your bags, we're leaving for the south."
the group cheered, pumped and ready to return to their journey. He smiled at the table and looked around at his group. "Fullmetal Brigade, move out!"
Anthony stood in front of Winry's gravestone. He smiled, his backpack over his shoulder. "I'm going now. We're going to finish this, and I'll keep my promise."
he smiled, and walked away, toward the train station. With the brigade hiding out for so long, the military had ceased bag checking on trains, and it was safe for them to travel again. The group nodded between each other, and boarded the train, sitting down in a private booth. The train made a brief fuel stop in a small southern town called Lethelite. The group got off to stretch their legs and get some fresh air. Anthony looked at the town's sign and smiled. "Well, I think we have time for a short stop."
the group looked at Anthony, a bit confused as he beckoned them to follow him into town. He checked Ed's journal and smiled. "here it is."
he walked up to a nearby house and knocked on the door. The sound of dogs barking could be heard behind the door, and a man pushing them aside. He answered the door, a pair of glasses hanging carefully on his nose. He was an old man, but clearly very well spirited. He looked across the group with his wise eyes. "Can I help you?" he asked.
Anthony pulled out his pocket watch and opened it, showing the inscriptions to the man. "It's good to meet you, Mr. Breda."
the man smiled and shuffled out of the way to let them in, three black dogs staring at them from down the hall.
Samantha walked the halls of laboratory 5, making sure everyone was busy at work preparing for the brigade's arrival. A woman from the north walked up to her. "Ma'am, there's a phone call for you on the brigade line."
she walked over to the phone quickly and picked up. "Hello?...Anthony!...uh huh...Alright I'll start preparing some more rooms...What?...yep, it's all set, by the time you get here we'll have the whole town against the military...Bye."
Samantha smiled and picked up a nearby flyer from a stack. She looked it over and nodded. "WHERE IS THE FUHRER?" is all it said, with the most recent picture of him they could get.
The group sat in Breda's living room, the three dogs sniffing around the mysterious new visitors, particularly interested in Trevor. Trevor sighed and shuffled as the dogs sniffed around him. "Nice dogs."
Breda smiled at him and sipped some tea. "Well I should think so, they're strong dogs, and very brave. They were bred from a military hound."
Trevor looked a little surprised and looked down at the dogs, remembering what his mother told him. "You mean these dogs..."
Breda nodded and smiled. "These dogs are Black Hayate's pups. Rightfully, they belong to you."
Trevor looked at the three dogs, who seemed to look back with a sense of loyalty. "Breda...I want you to keep one, you raised them after all. It would be wrong to steal all three."
Breda smiled and nodded, accepting the terms. Trevor looked at the two dogs he was taking. "What are their names?"
Breda shook his head. "I never named them, it didn't feel right."
Trevor nodded. "I'll think up names for them soon enough."
Anthony walked in from the next room and joined the rest of the group. Breda looked up at him. "did you find the phone alright?"
Anthony nodded and checked the time. "Sorry to leave so soon, Mr. Breda, but our train will be leaving soon."
Breda nodded. "It's alright, just make sure you finish what you started."
Anthony nodded, and the group left for the train station with a pair of four legged companions.
The train finally arrived at it's final stop in Dublith, the city closest to South headquarters. As promised by Zeke, there was a group waiting there to lead them to brigade south headquarters. It wasn't a far walk, just a couple blocks from the train station, in a bar called "Devil's Nest." one of the girls in the leading group smiled at Anthony. "Our leader has been waiting to see you, ever since Zeke told him your name."
Anthony looked a bit confused as they led the group into the leader's office. The man sitting in the chair looked to be around 25 years old, standing tall and wise, with black hair tied back in a ponytail. He smiled at the group and spotted Anthony immediately. "Anthony Elric, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've been expecting your arrival for a long time."
Anthony smiled and held out his hand to shake. "It's nice to meet you too. You know my name, would you mind telling me yours?"
the man smiled and shook his hand. "the Devoted Son Alchemist, Edward Elric Curtis, nice to finally meet you."
Anthony looked really surprised when he heard the name. "Curtis...but-" he began, but was immediately interrupted.
"But my foster mother couldn't have kids of her own." he said, smiling.
Anthony smiled back and nodded. "It's nice to meet you Edward. I'd like to get started as soon as possible."
Edward nodded and walked around behind his desk, sitting down. "About that, there's a bit of a problem."
he pulled a newspaper out from behind his desk and set it down. "SOUTH GENERAL KILLED, REPLACED BY NEW GENERAL." Anthony looked at the paper, surprised. "killed? Replaced?"
Edward nodded, his arms crossed. "the military claims that he was murdered by the brigade, but we haven't done anything to kill him. I think it was this new general, he must be someone specially trained to deal with us."
Anthony shook his head. "this isn't good. Let's do some reconnaissance, see what we can gather."
Edward nodded and stood up. "We'll split up and report back here afterward."
Anthony, Trevor and Alicia sat in a tree, observing the courtyard of South headquarters. Anthony looked out at the guards with his binoculars. He shook his head. "Something's wrong, there are barely any guards here."
Alica nodded, looking through her own pair. "I don't like the way this looks."
things weren't much better below ground with Edward, Zeke, and Jennifer. They stood there, staring at the door that would take them inside headquarters. Edward shook his head. "No, this is bad. I was down here just last week and it was sealed off. Somebody's opened it up."
Zeke looked worried. "Let's get back, we need to report this to the rest of the group."
the other two nodded and headed back toward the brigade headquarters.
Anthony leaned against the wall, deep in thought. Trevor was frustrated that he couldn't think of anything. "Just what the hell are they trying to pull?"
Edward sighed. "Maybe they're short handed after the death of the previous general."
Alicia shook her head. "that doesn't make sense, if the last general was killed then they would have more guards on patrol."
Anthony finally stood up, looking at the group around him. "Then it's a challenge. I don't know who this new general is, but he's challenging his might against the brigade. He must be very strong."
Trevor nodded. "then let's get everyone together and take him out."
Anthony shook his head. "we'll keep this to just the six of us. If he wants to fight, we'll show him just how powerful the brigade is. We strike at midnight."
the group, though a little uneasy about the plan, nodded and left for their rooms.
It felt as though midnight came quickly as the group left through the Devil's Nest entrance. Before they could leave, however, they were beckoned back by loud barking. The group turned and saw Trevor's two dogs, begging the group to return. Trevor walked up to them and patted them both on the head. "Stay, I'll be back later. Stay."
the two dogs whimpered, but silenced their barking, and the group left for South. Anthony smiled at Trevor. "Have you picked names for them yet?"
Trevor shook his head. "My head's a blank. That's not what we should be focusing on right now anyway."
Anthony nodded and led the group to the doors of the courtyard, filling the locks with black powder. He stepped aside and nodded to Trevor, who ignited the black powder, blowing open the doors. The group rushed in, but the courtyard was empty. They looked around but saw no one. Then they heard someone clapping. They looked up at the tallest building in the courtyard. They could make out a man sitting on top of the building. He jumped down from the top of the building, and the group watched in surprise as he landed without a scratch. Anthony and Zeke were more fearful of who they saw clapping his hands. "I must commend you," he began, "that was quite an entrance."
Zeke shook his head viciously. "it's not possible...it's not!"
Anthony backed away a bit, his entire body tense with fear. "Head Warden Fang?"
Fang cackled, looking at the fear in their faces. He brushed the hair out of his eye and revealed to them his ouroboros eye. "It's Fang the Proud, Cast Iron. I'd heard you had fought with my former self."
Zeke turned to Anthony. "Cast Iron, what's going on here? You said he was dead!"
Anthony nodded, calming down. "he is dead."
Zeke glared from behind his mask. "Then what the hell is going on?"
Anthony stared at Fang's ouroboros eye and he knew the answer. "Homonculus."
Fang smiled and drew his sword, a glistening steel katana. "I'm impressed, Cast Iron. You know a lot about things you shouldn't."
Anthony clapped and transmuted his wrist sword, and Zeke drew his own sword. Everyone else raised their arms, ready to fight. Fang looked around at them and shook his head. "six on one? Not very fair. Allow me to uneven the odds."
he snapped his fingers, and a door opened behind him. The group watched as nearly sixty chimera came out to join Fang. The group did their best to look unwavering against the large group of foes. Zeke couldn't hold his rage back any longer. With a loud battle cry, he ran at Fang, his sword pointed forward. With his ultimate eye, Fang easily avoided the attack, and dealt out a counterattack. Driving his sword deep in Zeke's abdomen. He kicked Zeke aside, back toward the group. He snapped his fingers and the chimera began attacking as he walked through them back into the building. Anthony protected Zeke while Jennifer tried to heal Zeke's wound, and the others were fighting with the chimera. A chimera pounced at Anthony, but he quickly slit the beast's throat. "Anthony..." Zeke said weakly.
Anthony rushed to Zeke's side. "what is it?"
Zeke was crying, but not from the pain. "That's definitely Thomas...his sword skills are the same...why doesn't he remember me?"
Anthony shook his head. "A homonculus doesn't remember their former life, he is simply the same soul in a new body. What's worse is he has regeneration abilities, from what I've heard from my grandpa's journal."
Zeke coughed up some blood. "Hold still." Jennifer told him as she continued to heal his wounds.
Zeke looked up at Anthony. "how do we defeat him then?"
Anthony thought for a while and nodded. "you need to have a piece of their original body in order to kill them, that's what makes them vulnerable."
Zeke stood up, his wound healed, but his breath still quickened. "Does it have to be from a certain time in their life?"
Anthony shook his head. "I don't think so."
Zeke pulled a box from his pocket, showing the two lochs of hair inside. "my mother kept these from our first haircuts, as mementos. I don't remember whose is whose though."
Anthony nodded and took one, tying it around the wrist of his armor. Zeke did the same with the hilt of his sword and the two nodded at each other. "Jennifer, stay here and help the others, Zeke and I will handle this."
Jennifer nodded and the two ran towards the doors of the building, fighting off chimera as they went. Alicia fought hand in hand with Edward, who was incredibly adept at most forms of alchemy. He could quickly switch between his left hand earth and his right hand botany. The chimera were hard to fight, coming from all sides the group barely had time to react to each new attack. Trevor torched one after the other, but the flames were a slow kill for some of the chimera. One was able to shake off the flame and pounced on Trevor. He did his best to keep the chimera at bay, but his strength was fading as he held back the jaws of the creature. Just when he thought this was it, something pounced on the beast and pinned it to the ground. After Trevor regained his composure, he looked over and saw his saviors. The two dogs Breda had given to him ripped out the throat of the beast and ran to the sides of their master. He smiled down at the dogs and pet their heads. "I guess I shouldn't have left you behind. Thanks."
he looked into their eyes and saw the compassion flowing out. He smiled and stood up, his finger ready to snap as the dogs faced down their enemy. "Alright," he said. "Let's go, Roy, Riza."
the dogs howled and pounced at some oncoming chimera, and the fight was on.
Anthony and Zeke climbed the stairs, searching every crevice for Fang. They had searched the whole building, and came to the roof. He wasn't there either, all they could see were the chimera in the courtyard fighting their friends. "Quite a view isn't it?" came Fang's voice from behind.
The two turned around and got into battle position, looking at Fang standing there, his hair brushed over his ultimate eye. Anthony glared and clapped his hands, sending a wave of spikes at his opponent, to no avail. Fang simply side stepped them and ran at Anthony, his sword held high. Anthony ran at Fang with his wrist sword, the hair strand wrapped around his wrist. The two clashed, and Anthony sliced across Fang's neck, but the wound immediately healed, and Anthony was kicked away, a bad wound in his abdomen. "Insolent fool, you can't kill me that way." he said as his wound finished healing.
Zeke ran at his former brother and sliced him across the chest. "Well how about me?" he screamed.
Fang expected the wound to heal, but it didn't, he looked up, realizing his vision was worsening. "It can't be...where the hell did you get part of my body."
Zeke's face was flooded with tears as he held his sword up against his opponent. "We're brothers Thomas, don't you remember?"
Fang stood up and glared at Zeke. "My name is Fang the Proud, Human."
he ran at Zeke to strike, but Zeke saw right through the attack and twisted his heel, ending up behind his brother. He dug his blade deep in Fang's abdomen, and Fang fell to the ground. As he tried to get up, Zeke held the tip of his blade against his throat. "Don't move..."
the two stared at each other for a long time, until Fang finally spoke up. "Go ahead, finish me off!"
Zeke's hand shivered, and he dropped his sword. "I can't."
Zeke turned away, leaving his brother there, in his weakened state. Fang saw this as an opportunity to strike back, and ran at Zeke's unguarded back. "Zeke watch out!" Anthony cried, running in front of him.
Fang's upward slash caught Anthony's mask and cut it in half, barely missing the lucky alchemist. Fang looked at Anthony's face and suddenly he had a headache, beginning to remember his battle with Anthony in the weapons factory. "Wh-what the hell is going on?"
Zeke looked over and helped Anthony up. "Thanks Anthony."
Fang's wounds were getting to him, he could barely stand anymore. "you! Cast Iron Alchemist! Just who the hell are you?"
Anthony glared at him. "I'm Anthony Elric! Grandson of Edward Elric!"
Fang glared, not getting the answer he expected. He noticed a notebook on the ground and ran to it, picking it up. Anthony gasped as he saw his grandfather's journal in the enemy's hands. "Put that down!"
Fang smirked as he flipped through the pages. "Fuhrer Simon will be happy to have this."
Anthony glared and ran at him, but Fang jumped off the building and ran off. The rest of the group joined the two upstairs just moments later and saw the sight. Blood was spilt everywhere and Anthony was on the ground, his mask cut in half in front of them. "Anthony!" Alicia screamed.
She ran to his side, and Zeke moved out of the way. Anthony quickly got up and picked up the two halves of his mask. "I'm okay, he didn't even graze me."
just then, the sun rose in the south, bathing it in lovely orange. Anthony walked to the edge of the building, and Alicia followed. "Trevor, take everyone and start laying the explosives, I want to talk to Alicia for a moment."
Trevor nodded and led the group off the roof. Alicia looked confused and turned to face his back in the sunrise. "Anthony...?"
Anthony gulped and shut his eyes. "Alicia, I want you to go back to Risembool where it's safe, I don't want you following us to Central. It's too dangerous there, you might be killed."
Alicia shook her head and moved closer. "I don't want to go back to Risembool, my place is with the brigade, I'm not leaving until we're finished."
Anthony turned around to protest, but his thoughts were interrupted when his lips met with hers. She softly broke the kiss and looked up at him. "When we walked down that road together eleven months ago, I started that journey with you, and I can't leave until it's finished. Grandma Winry once said to me that I'm here to make your risks less risky, and I intend to do that until the very end."
she looked up at him with the most serious of faces. "I'm part of the Fullmetal Brigade and I'm not leaving until our mission is done."
Anthony stared down at her, surprised at her bravery, and nodded softly, smiling. "Alright, we're in this until the end."
the two shared one more kiss, and made their way off the roof.
After the building was demolished, the group quickly went back to Devil's nest and began packing. Anthony smiled at Trevor trying to control his two dogs and pack at the same time. "So have you decided on the names of our two little canine companions?" he asked.
Trevor looked over at him and nodded, smiling. "Roy and Riza."
Anthony smiled and walked over, tearing a strip off the bottom of Trevor's navy blue brigade jacket. "Well Roy and Riza," he began, transmuting the cloth, "Welcome to the Fullmetal Brigade."
he smiled, wrapping a bandanna around each of their necks with the brigade symbol on them. The two dogs seemed to enjoy the new marks. Trevor smiled and turned them around as the group left for the train station.
Simon threw his wine glass at the wall, enraged. "Damnit! Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit!"
A soldier walked in and cautiously walked up to his desk. "Sir please, you need to calm down."
Simon grabbed the soldier by his neck and lifted him into the air. "Calm? How am I supposed to stay calm? The entire city is demanding I make a public appearance, Edward Elric's Grandson is after my head, and That god damn Fullmetal Brigade is breathing down my neck! How do you expect I stay calm?"
Simon's leading alchemist walked into the room as he dropped the deceased soldier to the ground. "Sir, I think I have a few suggestions for how you can deal with these problems."
Simon glared at the advisor, expectant to hear his solution. "Sir, you are young enough to claim you are your own son."
Simon began to calm down and smiled devilishly. "Yes, yes that's right. I could be my own son."
this idea led Simon to other ideas as he tossed Ed's journal at the alchemist. "Follow the path to the underground city the book describes, I want to know exactly what's going on down there. And Take a look at that circle in the back of the book too, judging from the smudges, the Cast Iron Alchemist has been looking at that page a lot."
the Alchemist saluted and left the room, and Simon stared out of his window down at the courtyard once again. "You think you've beaten me, you think you've won, but I'll show you not to mess with President Fuhrer King Simon Cast Iron! I'll bring down your entire world, Anthony Elric."