Chapter 8

August 24th

August 24th – Military Headquarters, Central

Ed blinked blearily at the light filtering through the curtains. For the space of a heartbeat, silence reigned in the room, and he wondered what had woken him. But then a loud thudding from the door reached his ear.

"Ed! ED! Are you in there?"

"Coming!" he yelled.

Opening the door, he was surprised to find Riza Hawkeye.

"What is it?"

"Come with me," she said, gesturing for both Elric brothers to follow her.

"What?" Ed yelped. "Why?"

"What's going on, Lieutenant?" Al asked, more politely.

"They've found Mangeli's lab."

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August 24th – Marketplace, Central

"It was underneath Central?" Ed asked blankly, looking at the deep, ragged hole in the pavement.

His eyes snapped to Roy's. "And no one knew?"

Ed tried to tamp down his rage. But the thought that Winry had been right underneath his feet all along and he'd never known...

"What happened?" Al asked, crouching to peer down the hole.

"So far, it looks like something tore it's way out of the lab," Roy sighed. "We're talking to some survivors, trying to find out what happened."

"Survivors..." Ed took a deep breath. "Is...did you see...?"

Riza spoke for him. "No. We didn't see Winry."

Ed closed his eyes as though he had been dealt a physical blow. "What about the lab?"

"We're going in now. We don't think Mangeli's still in there but...keep your guard up."

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August 24th – Mangeli's Laboratory, Central

The whole place gave Ed the creeps. The walls, the ceiling and the floor were made of harsh, shining metal, reflecting the glare of the too-bright lights above their heads. The clanging of Al's armour echoed eerily through the halls and cells. The entire atmosphere was so clinical, so coldblooded...

He cracked open a door labelled 'Examination Room 03' and peered inside. A metal chair sat in the middle of the room, and shelves lined the opposite wall. Shelves stocked with what looked like braids of hair.

Out of curiosity, he walked inside. The mops of hair didn't seem to be arranged in any order he could discern. There was a long, thick black braid beside soft red curls, which were next to..

Ed froze.

He knew those straight, shiny locks. He knew that colour – not quite lemon or bronze, but more like gold touched by moonbeams.

It was Winry's hair.

Feeling as the breath were slowly being squeezed from his lungs, he reached out and picked the hair up, feeling it slither over his fingers.

"Al," he croaked out. "Al...I found something..."

"Brother?" A reverberating clanging signaled Al's approach. "What is it?"

He held the hair out, his hand shaking.

"Is that-?" Al cried out, staring at the blonde strands.

"Yeah."

Al didn't question how he knew, and Ed was grateful. He couldn't be sure himself. It was just some deeply ingrained instinct that told him this was Winry's hair.

"Ed?"

Ed looked up, his body jolting in surprise. "Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"We found something you should take a look at."

Ed swallowed, hoping desperately she wasn't going to ask him to identify Winry's body. "I'm coming."

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August 24th – Mangeli's Laboratory, Central

W.R. – 1916

D.O.B – 21 Mar 1899

I will not give in, I will not become his puppet.

I refuse to die here.

Ed had no doubt who had written those words. He looked around the cold metal cell, and his heart broke at the thought of Winry imprisoned here.

He became aware that Roy and Riza were talking behind him with Al. He rose slowly to his feet, and turned to see all three of them bent over a file of some kind.

"What's that?" he said, surprised by how hoarse his voice was.

Silently, Riza handed it to him.

'Subject Delta' was printed in bold letters on the front, and Ed opened it.

He felt like someone had speared him through the chest as his eyes skimmed the contents.

A picture of Winry, naked and backed up against the wall of a cell, eyes glaring at the camera.

A shot of a transmutation circle.

A sketch of what looked like an angel – a human with wings growing from their back.

Sheets of calculations and notes on bird and human anatomy.

And finally, a hastily-scrawled note at the back;

'Subject Delta appears fully recovered, apart from lethargy and apparent disinterest in her environment. Her wings seem to be fully developed, and the injuries they caused healed remarkably quickly. It is interesting to note her hair grew back, to what my records show was it's original length. All scars and evidence of past injuries appear to have vanished also. Though there is no alteration to her musculature, it has been evidenced by Subject Omega that the alchemically gifted strength need not alter the original physique, as it is metaphysical on origin.'

'It appears that the daemon's essence has not been able to anchor in Subject Delta, though I have not yet determined how she could have survived the transmutation without it.'

And finally, a photo of Winry, curled up on her side in the fetal position. Two wings grew from her back, their white feathers streaked with blood.

What had Mangeli done to her?

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August 24th - Marketplace, Central

"Ed, come over here for a moment," Riza waved him over from where she was talking with one of the escapees from the lab.

He moved in a daze, feeling as if he were in a fog. His mind and heart were still reeling from the blow dealt by the 'Subject Delta' file.

Riza nodded at the man she was interviewing. "He says they were rescued by a woman. More specifically, a woman with wings."

Ed's mind instantly snapped back to the photo in the file. Winry with wings growing out of her back...

The tall man cleared his throat, looking nervously at Ed. "She said she'd lost all memory of her life before the lab. She adopted the name 'Angel' – she didn't even know what her name used to be."

"Can you describe her?" Riza asked, her pen poised over her notebook.

"Sure. She was about his height," he pointed at Ed, "She had pale skin, bright blue eyes, and light blonde hair that reached to about her waist..."

"Was she stocky?"

"Nah, real slender."

Ed made a soft, choking sound in the back of his throat. He'd heard enough. It had to be Winry. She'd survived – she was alive! Alive!

But she'd lost her memory. Did that mean she was still Winry? Or was everything that had ever been Winry erased and re-shaped by the cruelties she'd endured since being robbed of her memories?

He didn't know. And at that moment, Ed thought that concept was even more frightening than the idea of Winry being dead.

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AN: Some people have asked if I deliberately made Mangeli remind you of Mengele, and the answer is; yes, I did. I looked at the names of the famous Nazi war criminals, played around with them, and Mangeli from Mengele was the best result.