Me: Wow… This hasn't been updated in AGES and I'm STILL getting random reviews for it… wow. O.o
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Disclaimer: Hmm… I dunno… Does " Edo" rhyme with "Naruto"? I don't either but I've moved on to the latter… (squeal for da' Naru!-!)
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Chapter 15: DEATH!-!
"Little Al is sick, too?" asked Chubby-chan.
"Yeah… and no matter how I look at it, I can't identify the cause of illness." said Al numero seis, flipping through a book. Ah, bookworm Al; Sheska was devastated when she found out that he wouldn't be stinking around for long.
"And what's more…" started emo Ed dully, "is that greed and hope haven't been feeling well either." The other two boys stared at him blankly; envy sighed. "Hope is the one still stuck in the armor."
"Ohh…"
BOOM!
The military base shook with a violent force for what seemed to be the umpteenth time this week. None of the boys flinched as the lights flickered and alarms went off.
"Think they'll fill us in on what happened later?" asked Al, picking up a new book.
"Probably," said gluttony, picking up a magazine (Dessert Weekly).
X
"A: greed tried yet another stupid experiment," sighed Winry tiredly.
"B: another repercussion has popped up," drawled Edwina.
"Or C: someone's attacking the base…again." grumbled Alison.
All three girls groaned. "Boys…" they hissed.
Winry opened the door to greed's laboratory; smoke filled the room. "On second thought," she started with a disgusted look on her face, "I'd rather not know what happened now." With that, she slammed the door and went with the other girls to see if there was any progress in the library. Unfortunately, it was only more chaos there.
Winry gaped at the previously studying boys; they were staring at a smoking suit of armor. "What's going on?" moaned Winry, afraid to find out.
"I'm not sure, Winry," said hope, not turning to face her. "One minute I was walking down here to find out if they had come up with something and the next thing I know smoke is spitting out of me!"
"We had to drag him all the way down here; he's lost all mobility of he's suit." said the bookworm, staring up at his doppelganger intently.
"Can I try something?" asked the harsh voice of SoulReaper as he came into the room. He walked over to hope casually, looked him over, and then pushed him over, landing on the floor with a loud clatter.
"Owie…" moaned the twelve year old that fell out.
"Knew it," stated justice, shaking his head in agreement with himself.
The others stared at the new Al; he was older than the others and resembled SoulReaper more than any other. The new boy stood up and brushed himself off. He smiled at the others. "Hey Winry!" he chirped, not noticing the two Ed clones behind him.
"I heard a loud racket, is everything alright in here?" asked lust, poking his head into the library.
The new Al stopped completely, eyes growing wide at the Ed who most similar to the original. "Nii… Niisan you came back…" he whispered under his breath. His lips began to tremble and tears swelled up in his eyes. "NIISAN!" he cried, flying over to the boy. He tackled him to the ground, hugging him as tight as he could.
"Whoa, Al, slow down!" said lust, caught off guard by his actions. "Where did I go? What're you talking about?"
Al sat up, and still sniffling he said, "I knew you'd come back; I never lost hope. When Sensei explained what happened with the gate and how you… you…" he started to cry again, so he just hugged the boy once more.
Winry glanced back and forth between all the Eds and Als; if she was lost before then she must be in a whole different world now. She looked up at SoulReaper to ask him if he could explain, but she stopped when she saw his expression. He was staring longingly at the two boys in the doorway like he was wishing that it was him there instead.
"Okay, based on the uniforms and the layout of the building, I'm guessing I'm back in Amestris?" called a voice from down the hall. Ed came into the library, and Winry almost died. How many Eds are there?-! The man looked over at the group of people and gasped. "Winry," he breathed, rushing over to her. He stood before her and frighteningly he was about an inch taller—how old is this guy? Without a word he wrapped one arm around her waist and cupped her cheek with his other hand, gazing into her eyes; then he kissed her passionately. Lust practically died that time. But before he had the chance to get to him, SoulReaper pulled the man away from Winry.
"You," he growled, "you finally decided to come back, did you?" he screamed, slugging him in the face.
"Al?" called the new Ed, stunned. "Why are you—" before he could finish, justice hit him again.
"Why am I what?" he demanded loudly. "Why am I doing this after ten long years?" he screamed, landing another blow. "Why am I not happy to see you after so long?" tears started to well-up in his eyes as the new Ed backed up against the wall. "Or why…" choked SoulReaper, "Or why am I a monster?" he screamed.
Ed's eyes widened as Al's long red coat began to turn black and his eyes glow violet. "Al… what…?" whispered Ed, terrified.
In the blink of an eye, Al moved 20 feet over to the man and wrapped his hands around his throat. "There's no such thing as a perfect human transformation without a Philosopher's Stone, Niisan. You should have known that better than anyone." growled the homunculus, tightening his grip. "Why couldn't you just leave me dead? Did it ever occur to you that I wanted to die? Did it?" he yelled, squeezing the man's throat even more.
" AL, STOP!" screamed Winry.
The boy smirked at Ed's pained expression when the girl screamed. "What's the matter?" he whispered, leaning down close to him. "You don't want her to see this, do you?" The man glared at him; the homunculus chuckled. "Take a good look at her," he ordered, "How old does she look?" Ed darted his gaze over to Winry. After a moment, Al saw tears sparkling in the corners of his eyes. "That's right," he whispered, "Because your Winry is long gone."
Ed turned back to Al, and staring up at him determinedly he choked out, "Do it."
Al grinned, but before he could snap the man's neck, hope came flying at him, tackling him away from the Ed. "NO!" he cried. "You can't do this to Niisan!"
"Get off me, kid!" yelled SoulReaper, grasping the boy's head, cutting into his scalp with his nails.
"No…" cried hope, "Not until you stop trying to hurt Niisan…"
The older boy scowled and smothered his counterpart's face with his palm. "You'll thank me for this, kid." With that, blue sparks erupted from his hand and exploded the other's skull. The boy's body fell backwards limply, blood pooling out around it.
Winry fell to her knees, tears cascading down her cheeks, unable to speak.
"H…how could you do that…?" squeaked the sixth Al. "Y-you didn't even blink and he's… I'm…"
The homunculus smirked darkly at the boy. "What're you gonna do about it? You're just a scared little kid."
"And I'm one pissed brother!" yelled the new Ed, flying toward SoulReaper. The sin dodged the attack with ease, letting the man hit the floor running.
"If you want it to end so badly, then let me end it!" he came at the other boy again, swinging a rusted right blade wildly. Al grabbed the back of his shirt and spun him around, kicking him to the other side of the room.
"You had your chance years ago! All I want now is payback." He grinned sinisterly again as alchemic sparks began to erupted from his hands. "All I want is for you to die!"
"STOP!" Just as Al thrust his attack at the new Ed, Edwina leapt in the way. She grabbed his forearm tightly as his hand pierced through her torso; she grimaced. "I can't… let you do this…" she choked out, gasping for air. "I know I must turn out to be a really crappy sister… or brother; whatever," she laughed a little, coughing out flakes of blood. "I don't really know what's going to happen… but I know that you'd never do something like this, Alphonse…"
SoulReaper glared at her, flexing his fingers in her gut. "You're not the one I want." He said simply, sending his alchemy coursing through her body; spurts of blood shot out for a moment before he threw her away, limp.
"Stop this!" screamed the new Ed, throwing his arms out submissively. "It's ME you want; leave the others be!"
"Henh; it's not my fault if the get in the way…" he murmured, darting his tongue out to taste the blood on his fingers.
"What happened to you, Al?" whimpered Ed. "Where did I go wrong? I only wanted the best for you…" The homunculus stopped completely and stared at him. Then, he began to laugh, harder and harder until tears slipped from his eyes. "What're you…?"
"The BEST for me?" he screamed angrily. "That's the biggest lie I've heard in my life—and I'm already dead!" Slowly, he stood back up straight. "You went wrong when you tried to bring Mom back. If it hadn't been for that one selfish desire of yours we'd BOTH be living a happy normal life!"
Ed looked down, smiling self-loathingly. "You're right," he whispered, "that's why they call me 'greed', isn't it?"
Winry finally looked up at the two, focusing her blurry eyes enough to see it; those thin lenses his tears splashed onto, the glass barriers that hid his eyes… (ZOMG! It's Mr. Smarty-Pants!-!)
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Al: DAMN that's a lotta dying!-!
Me: Yeah… (laughs) since I've been gone I've turned emo, and it shows.
Roy: Then were did that humor come from?
Me: Well one, a large portion of this was written sometime ago, and two, being emo is fun!
Al: Then you're not really emo.
Me: Shaddap! (slaps) At the very least I'm depressed.
Envy Edo: YAY!
Others: …
Envy Edo: I mean—life sucks…
Me: Oh right, sorry to end on what I can only assume is a cliffie coz since I wrote most of it a while ago I'm tired of rereading it, I didn't proofread.
Roy: And it shows.
Me: 'Till next time!
Roy: Or not.
Me: (slaps!)