Incarnate

Banter

"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Him," grunted the battle-hardened housewife, Mrs Izumi Curtis; whilst she hastily created a wall to block Pride's shadows. "Honestly, we are in the middle of the battle to end all battles, and he shows off fancy new tricks that none of us knew he was capable of, barks out orders, and flies off!" A red-eyed spike of solid grazed her cheek. "I wasn't even supposed to be helping!"

Al clapped, making a maze of spikes to mirror the attacks that Pride had sent out, managing to create more holes in the deceptively childish body. "That's Brother. Always has something up his sleeve, even if it's suicidal and crazy." He flipped over an incoming attack, glad that he could not tire with his amour. Even if it was uncomfortable and he couldn't use most of his senses, it really came in useful in most of the fights he was involved in.

Pride was falling apart, a red vortex of souls wrapped with black shadows, but he was still fighting. Ordinarily, such determination would be considered impressive, but the homunculus was simply too arrogant to back down and admit he was wrong and weak. He was trying to distract them, to taunt them with a verbal exchange of words. Needless to say, it wasn't working.

A crossbow bold made of rock shot through the space where Pride's heart should be. The little artificial human was no more. Izumi dusted her hands on her shirt. "He was so small; it was almost like fighting Ed." She snorted. "But that Pride character was no-where near as skilled, nor as devious. He was just another arrogant brat."
"A bit like Brother then?" smirked Al, looking up at the hole in the ceiling.
Izumi winked at her other adoptive son, her mood dancing from dangerous and murderous to happy and joking in a matter of seconds. "Yes, Al. Just like Edward. Shall we?"

Al nodded, clapping his hands to make a tower to lift himself to the next level. Ling, Greed and Mei appeared to have climbed up there themselves during the fight, but time was of the essence now, and not something that Teacher and Ex-Student could afford to waste.

Soldiers

"You cannot go and fight up there, Ma'am! You are seriously injured! Your ch'i is not flowing properly around your body, you are severely weakened!" insisted Mei Chang firmly, glaring at the blonde known as Hawkeye.
"The Colonel needs me!" shot back Hawkeye, still in Darius' arms.
"Like hell he does, Lady", snorted Greed, interrupting the two women. He was leaning against the wall, giving the illusion of being perfectly relaxed. "He has Ed and Hohenheim, and I'm pretty fucking sure that right now, nothing could stop them."
"MAJOR EDWARD ELRIC? What is that weakling alchemist doing here?" inquired the other blonde woman. She was tall and muscular; her face beautiful, but her eyes cold. "Fuck. That's a woman I want on my side, for always. She's fucking terrifying."
Ling agreed swiftly, from his vantage point at the other side of the room, behind a convenient post. "She called Ed a weakling, and he's the strongest alchemist I've ever met, especially for his age!"

"Edward is here for the fight, my dear Olivier. He obviously couldn't miss it, a chance to help Amestris and his friends and family! Oh, the self-sacrificing lad- he would do anything for the people he considers to be his friends!" boomed Armstrong, already preparing to strip and cry. Many of those around him averted their eyes, resigned to yet another viewing of the muscles that had been passed down the Armstrong family line for GENERATIONS!

Sensing it was the right time, Ling stepped forwards, forcing out his so-called 'prince-ly' persona. "Alright then, it's decided. The chimeras are coming with us, as are all the uninjured soldiers. Mei will heal the rest of you as best she can, and you can join the fight after that," said Ling, his tone firm. His voice left no room for argument, most of the soldiers had seen what he and Greed had done to the front gate.
"Taking lessons from the Pipsqueak, are you, Prince? Talking so fast no-one can disagree? And to think-"
"-Shut the fuck up, Greed."

Greed laughed at seemingly nothing; which surprised most of the crowd gathered around. Mei Chang, ever the prim and proper princess, looked at them disdainfully and continued to bandage Hawkeye. Greed and Ling glanced at each other and then clapped their hands in unison. "Alright then, soldiers. Let's go off merrily into our doom! Armstrong family strong-arm alchemy guy? Can you give us a lift?"
Armstrong nodded, his eyes glinting heavily with unvoiced emotion, before activating an array on his gauntlets. The floor exploded, lifting their large column up onto the next floor.

But no matter how prepared the soldiers had thought they were, what they saw was nothing that they had ever trained for.

A.N. : Yes, I do realise the suspicious lack of Ed. However, I wish to keep with my regular updating schedule (and GODS does that phrase seem weird), and admit that the next few action scenes wouldn't flow as well. I am sorry that there has been no Ed in these last three drabbles, but he has been mentioned quite frequently. The next few drabbles should focus on him more! I also realise this is shorter than most of my other chapters, and I can only apologise, because I didn't want to put in a third this time around.

On the plus side: this is actually the tenth drabble of this fan-fiction! I'm actually really proud of myself, since before I have only written three drabbles in a series before I gave up. And it's thanks to all of you readers! Extra-special thanks to Joker Oak, GhostMajor, LadysWords and Fluehatraya (who is awesome because they have reviewed every chapter so far!) Please, continue to review. I am unsure of how true my characterisation is and as I can't find a player that will work on my computer, my grasp is slipping.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing, and I am so grateful you enjoy my writing!
~ Call Me Tom [26.6.12] [Edited: 29.6.12]