Chapter Twenty Three-Deja Vu
"Winry, are you feeling any better?" May brought over a steaming cup of tea for her. The blond mechanic was still sitting on the bed, where'd she'd been since she got there. As May came over she gave a faint smile to May as she took a sip.
"I guess so. I just hope Alphonse can talk some sense into Ed. He's been so weird lately."
"Lately?" Winry glanced over at the Xingese girl only for her to lean back and wave her hands back and forth. "Oh it's nothing, really I promise. Hahaha." Winry smiled again and narrowed her gaze slightly.
"I know you two don't get along. Just because you both try to hide it from Al, doesn't mean I don't know."
"Well it's really not my fault, he's always teasing me. He can be quite annoying when he wants to be. I'm sure you don't really see him like that though." Winry let out a deep sigh, looking down at the tea in her hands.
"Trust me I see it more then you think I do. There are some days it takes a lot of effort to love that man. But don't kid yourself, Alphonse can be just as stubborn as Ed. He's just better at keeping his crazy quiet."
"No, my Alphonse is nothing like that." It was clear May was very disillusioned about Al. "He's perfect in every way and he only fights when an innocent is in need. He's the protector of the weak." May brought her hands on either side of her face and closed her eyes in order to envision her sweet Alphonse. Winry couldn't help but laugh at her concept of Al.
"Yeah you didn't see him when he was little and he got into fights with Ed." The blond could probably spend hours telling May all of Al's clumsier moments growing up. "There was this one time down at the river where Al grabbed..." Before she could finish her sentence, the door was slammed into the room with no warning. May visibly tensed up as she felt that evil presence from the past. Blackness entered the room and Winry moved from her spot on the bed, dropping her tea on the floor. She found herself instinctively turning her front side away from the intruder and covering her midsection with both arms.
oOoOo
Edward had been in the office for hours, not making any headway. Still sitting at the desk he had his eyes closed and was trying to breath slowly. But it just seemed to be impossible for him to lock onto his own chi. He was starting to wonder if it was even possible to focus on your own. Deciding to try something else, he decided to focus on Alphonse. Maybe that would be easier. Despite how long he'd tried to find his, it only took him a minute or so to find Al's. At least he knew he wasn't stupid.
'Whoa, Al seems really angry.' The thought caused Ed to smile. 'I hope he figured Pride out and that's why he's angry. It would serve him right.' Since he had had some success with finding Al, he tried the same with Winry. It was immediately clear that she was upset and he had a pretty good idea why. If only honing in on someone's chi permitted him to talk to them too. That would have made him feel better. As nice as it was finally knowing how to see someone's chi, it did him little good unless he was able to see his own. Deciding he couldn't stand the idea of Winry hurting and not being there for her, he moved to the closest person to her. It was May. After a second or two though he was blocked to the point that he was pushed backwards in his seat and fell, hitting the ground hard.
"Ow...," he rubbed the back of his head. "There's no way she could have known...right?" She was pretty skilled. In the short two seconds he would feel that she was definitely angry with him particularly. "Gee like that's anything new." Looking on the bright side, he was happy that Winry was with someone right now that cared about her. Getting to his feet, he picked the chair up and let out a tired sigh. Straightening up again, he closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, searching for Winry's chi again. Even though she had been here in his memories, he missed her terribly. As sad as he was for how she was feeling, it was kind of nice being connected to her. Her sadness faded into a startled fear and he could feel some other presence however it wasn't like a normal human's chi. It had to be Pride. Snapping his eyes open, he realized she was in danger and he had to get to her. Without thinking, he leaned over the desk in a hurried manner,knocking books out of his way and reached for a small white object off to the side. Turning, he got to his knees and began scribbling an Alkehestry circle. His utter helplessness was beginning to creep up on him, but he had to do something. Bringing his palms to the ground hard, he stared at the circle in hopes something would happen.
"Please, you have to work," he begged as he focused on it.
oOoOo
May moved quickly in front of Winry, pulling several daggers out. She narrowed her eyes as shadows moved around her. Finally she caught her opportunity and threw her weapons in that direction. Once they made contact, she took a final dagger and scratched her array into the wooden floor. Alkehestry lit up the room and every shadow slithering around them tensed up in obvious pain. They pulled back into the hallway and May let out a sigh.
"We've gotta get out of here." May held her one knife out in front of her for defense. Without any warning she was knocked off her feet to the floor.
"May!" Winry looked around the room for something to use as a weapon but she was definitely at a disadvantage. The shadows backed away once more and someone stepped into the room. May tried to get up but when she saw who was attacking them, she froze in shock. Winry's eyes widened in fear. Edward stood before them, his demeanor calm and collected. The shadows seemed to move around him according to his will.
"No...h..how is this possible?" Winry didn't want to believe it. Although it explained his attitude earlier, she knew Ed was stronger then this. That he wouldn't have let himself get taken over so easily.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry for all this, but well I'm just not." Several shadows moved towards them at a quick pace, sharpening at the end as they got closer.
"Edward!" Winry turned herself as much as possible, preparing to be impaled. When nothing happened she opened her eyes and turned to see everything had stopped. Pride angrily tried to move, letting out an annoyed sound. He clenched his teeth and narrowed his gaze, knowing immediately who was responsible for this.
'How are you doing that?' There was no answer as it took every ounce of concentration for Edward to keep the homunculi still. Even in the cacophony of noise inside Pride, Ed had heard Winry's voice over it all. That was all he had needed to take control but he knew he couldn't do it for long. Squinting at the blond mechanic, a weak smile brightened his face.
"Winry, please...don't give up on me just yet." Tears formed in her eyes when she heard him say that and she nodded silently. The smile vanished once Pride took control again.
"Too bad he can't handle it for too long." The attack came at them once more but was blocked again. The floor was pushed upwards, creating a barrier between Pride and the two he wished to harm. The wall next to the only window in the room sparked and moved unnaturally, making an opening for Al to walk through.
"I'm not gonna let you hurt anyone, Pride."
"Alphonse!" May rushed over to him, hugging him tightly around his waist.
"You and Winry need to leave, get somewhere safe." May hesitantly nodded before grabbing Winry by the hand and disappearing out the opening Al had made. The mechanic didn't know what else she could do as she hurried away from the fight that was about to ensue.
"You forget yourself Alphonse Elric. You're no longer hollow inside and can get injured like everybody else. You can even die." The younger Elric seemed unconcerned about his own safety as he clapped his hands together. Metal came around his wrists and hands. By the time the alchemy faded, his arms seemed pretty solid and could probably beat Pride's face in.
"You seemed to have forgotten a couple of things as well. That even as a homunculus you have a weakness, all of you did. And just like Greed and Ling, in that body, you're limited at best. I mean sure you could eventually manage to be at full strength but I have a feeling that since my brother isn't playing very nice in there, its not gonna happen anytime soon. The only reason Greed was able to get to his full potential was because Ling allowing him to. So I figured you're limited at best."
"That doesn't mean I can't beat you. Nothing else would bring me more joy then killing you and letting your brother watch after all his wasted effort to bring you back."
"I wasn't finished!" Alphonse interrupted, tilted his head in such a way it was intimidating. "As an alchemist who's studied Alkehestry, I can pull from your philosopher stone. And once it's all used up, you wont' be strong enough to hold on any longer. Just like what we did to Father." The look in Al's golden eyes reflected his inner rage. One that was just as intense as the older Elric. One that revealed how sick he was of the homunculus trying to toy with their lives.
'Hey Pride,' Edward mused with gratification in his tone. 'My little brother's gonna kick your ass.'
A/N- This was a really fun chapter to write, so I hope everyone out there enjoys it just as much as I did writing it. AND send me some reviews. Cause I update! Cause I never disappoint (okay maybe that's stretching it a bit.-_-) Cause I give you great fight scenes where Al is really really mad. Way to poke a snake there Pride. He still doesn't get the Elrics.