FMA Fanfic: The Lost Heaven (Chap 10)
Title: The Lost Heaven Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own any character or plot in FMA, or Al will turn into everyone s uke!
Characters appearance: Al, Ed, Roy, Riza, Scar, King Bradley, Yao Ling, Ran Fan, Sophie, Dante, Sloth, Archer, Lust, Chang Mei, Winry, Armony Warning: Characters' death AU: I'm going to rush next few chapters coz it's reaching the most difficult and irritating stage. Boy, I really want to complete this fic asap so that I can do up short chap fics if my interest with FMA is still around. I'm going to kill a lot of characters in this and next chapter... Kukukuku...
Chapter 10: Into Xing Empire
Ed stared as he watched Winry packed her stuffs into a luggage: "Hey, what's the meaning of this?"
"You're going to Xing, right? I'm going with you!" glared Winry.
"Look, I'm not going for vacation," Ed sweated.
"So what?" Winry cut in: "I m tired and I m not going to wait for you guys to return forever." She turned to Armony: "Sorry, Armony-chan, can you help me convert the message to Izumi when she returns?"
Armony sighed and nodded: "Take care of yourselves, guys." She looked at the direction of the burning buildings from afar: "The situation is pretty chaotic now." She looked at Ed. Abruptly, she ran up to hug him, burying her face in his shoulder: "Promise me that you both will return safely with Al, ok?"
"Ah.." Ed said, Winry looked away.
There was a car honk.
"Colonel!" Ed exclaimed as he caught sight of Roy Mustang in his civilian clothes.
"I believe you are going to Xing, right? This car can go through desert." The man said from the driver seat.
Ed and Winry made their way into the car. "How are you going to become a Fuhrer if you run off to other country in the time of chaos, Colonel?" Ed said.
"Looks like Lady Luck is not with me after all." Roy laughed and started the engine.
_
On the Great Desert, Scar, Lust and Chang Mei were making their way through the sand storm. Amidst the sand, they caught sight of the huge figure of Sloth dragging a man on his back and was making his way like a buffalo.
"A homunculus." Lust said in low voice: "Correction, two homunculi."
"That man's a homunculus too? I remember he was a military officer." Scar said.
"He's probably the one who has replaced my position." Lust said: "Why don't we follow them? They don't seem to notice us."
The three figures moved further from the hurrying two figures and followed silently.
_
Greed!Yao Ling was panicking. One moment, the 13 year old teenager was standing besides him, cuddling kittens and the next moment, he vanished into the crowd. He hoped to catch a glance of the blond boy among the black hair of the Xing people who were looking at the stocks on the street.
In a corner, Al pulled a cloth over his head and tried to move further away from Greed!Yao Ling. The search for the main Xing gate had been taking more than 2 days. During the day, they were wandering on the streets and Yao Ling did not fail to point out many interesting things sold in the market places. Al had a distinct suspicion that he was just humoring him to buy time for certain things. Quietly, he shifted into a quiet lane. He heard some car honks. There was very few cars in the city of Xing and many people looked at the source of the noise curiously. Al sneaked out cautiously and caught sight of a military truck, probably from Amestris. His heart gave a skip the moment his eyes caught sight of King Bradley, a few of his soldiers, Sophie and Riza on the vehicle.
A hand suddenly slapped on Al's shoulder: "Where are you going, Al?" It was Greed!Yao Ling.
"I've got something on!" Al said and rushed to transmute the ground before the truck so that it rose and stopped the vehicle.
King Bradley turned to see the source of the force and was shocked to see Al performing alchemy nearby. A few soldiers ran out to stop Al who took the chance to approach the vehicle. Riza took the opportunity to push Sophie and herself out of the vehicle together, still in bound. Al kicked a soldier and snatched his rifle to free Riza and Sophie from their bound. He hissed in pain as King Bradley's sword stabbed into his shoulder. Riza took Al's rifle and shot King Bradley. Sophie was confronted by Greed!Yao Ling and used her alchemy to fight him away. She rushed to Riza and Al's side. They were seriously outnumbered.
Most of the onlookers on the street had freed away to avoid being hurt unnecessary as some had been injured during the sudden confrontation. Several people screamed and some children were crying from fear.
The flower marks on Sophie's hands glowed. "I'll deal with them, you guys run off first. I'll follow up later." Sophie said and suddenly smiled gently: "Al, tell Ed that I'm happy with the times I am able to spend with him and tell him to stay happy with Winry." Before Al could say a word, her body suddenly surged with strong force, creating strong wind and sand up from the ground, sweeping many soldiers off their feet.
King Bradley ran through the force without difficulty and stabbed Sophie in her chest. Al screamed. Riza grabbed the boy and ran off amidst the confusion.
When the wind died down, Al and Riza were gone. King Bradley searched Sophie's body, but could not find the Philosopher's stone. Apparently, Sophie had handed the stone to Riza during the confusion. King Bradley glared angrily at Greed!Yao Ling: "Who ask you to take that kid out of the palace?"
"Well, you can't gurantee that boy will cook up some ways to run away all the time, right? Anyway, it's Father's instruction to tell me to humor him while waiting for the Philosopher's stone."
Lying on the ground, many past events flashed by Sophie's glassy eyes. Her first meeting with the Elric brothers when she was chased by Leondardo and his army... Her next encounter with the brothers when she suddenly found herself in the Central city of Amestris... Her times with the rest laughing and enjoying dinner in Rose's house...
"Everything's just a dream... It's just a cross-over from other dimension, little girl..." A strange voice said: "You are going home now..." Sophie felt a flash of white emptiness as King Bradley drove his sword into her throat...
From the top of a building, a masked figure was watching the running figures of Riza and Al. She took down the mask to reveal the sharp look of Ran Fan.
_
Envy scratched his head in the main street of Xing as he looked back at the approaching figures of Sloth who still carried the struggling Archer. "Wow, you're fast, Sloth, that doesn't look like the usual you."
"He... is too... troublesome... want to end this work to sleep..." yawned Sloth.
"Release me, you big buffalo!" yelled the agitated Archer.
"Is anyone yelling my name?" The voice of Godoa called. Archer followed his voice and was aghasted to see the form of Camerlia, Triffany, Leonardo and Godoa approaching them.
Archer tensed, wondering inwardly if they knew about their leader's death and that he himself was the murderer and enemy.
'Are they allies?' wondered Scar as he watched them from afar. Lust and Chang Mei were standing close him. He could feel Chang Mei shivering slightly as she glanced at the gathering opponents.
Camerlia glanced at their hiding directions and said: "Are those three people hiding over there friends of yours?" Envy followed her direction and grinned: "Oh, it's that Isabal man, former Lust and that little Xingness girl!"
"I don't think it's a good time to fight them now." Lust whispered. Aloud, she waved: "Hi, we're just dropping by, no hard feelings I hope."
"Oh no, you're welcome to tour this place as long as you like." Envy smirked and to Scar and Lust's surprise, they let them moved on without a fight.
"I think I smell a rat." whispered Scar.
_
"This is embarrassing, Colonel." Ed said the 12th times as he watched Roy Mustang struggling with the car engine in the middle of the Great desert.
"Let me try." Winry said and within a minute, the car roared to life again. Roy glared at the girl and said stiffly: "Thanks."
"Don't mention." Winry said coolly.
Within an hour, the vehicle entered the main gate of Xing.
"There sure are many vehicles passing through the gate today." A passingby stared and added to his friend, taking note of Ed and Winry's blond hair: "It's Amestrians again!"
"What?" Ed jumped out of the vehicle and approached the man: "Do you have any idea where the earlier Amestrians are?"
"There was a fight, it's horrible!" The man's friend said, still shivering as she thought of it: "An Amestrian girl was killed."
Ed echoed numbly: "An Amestrian girl was killed?"
_
In the other part of the street, Al and Riza ducked as the soldiers under King Bradley moved among the crowd, looking for them. Just then, someone bumped into Riza and ran off hurriedly.
Riza touched her pocket and gasped: "The stone's gone!" She turned to chase the person, but he or she had long disappeared into the crowd.
Al, who was still dazed from the sudden death of Sophie, snapped up to Riza's exclaimation: "Let's not look for the stone. Shall we go back to Amestris now?"
"Not possible at this moment, Alphonse." Riza said grimly, watching the matching Xingess soldiers who were liaising with King Bradley's men by monitoring the incoming and outgoing people at the Xing main gate. She suddenly tensed at one incoming vehicle. Roy, Ed and Winry were sitting on it. Some soldiers talked in low voice and 2 of them marched off silently.
"They are not aware that they are being watched!" Riza said with a frown: "We can't meet them right now. Not with King Bradley still thinking we have the stone with us." She pulled Al into other corner as the two soldier passed by.
Al suddenly leaped out and knocked the soldiers unconscious. He pulled their uniforms off: "Sorry, Lt, I think we need to change our attire."
Riza smiled.
Ed was still dazed from the sudden news that he stood almost for a minute before Winry shook him back to reality: "What is it, Ed?"
"Sophie..." Ed said, still blank.
"You are being watched, Colonel." Riza's voice suddenly appeared by Roy's ear, followed by a piece of paper being squeezed into his hand which was hanging outside the window. He looked up to see a Xingness soldier walking away.
He read the paper: "Meet us in the 2nd lane on your left."
"I need to look for a washroom, wait for me, Fullmetal." Roy said and wandered off in circles. Until he was sure that there was no stalker, he ducked into the 2nd lane on the left to see Riza and Al leaning against the wall in Xingness soldier uniforms.
"I'm glad you are fine, first Lt." Roy smiled.
Riza sighed deeply: "Sophie is dead."
"I think Fullmetal knows about it now, judging the way he seemed dazed when he was asking for information from a local." Roy said in low voice.
"Nii-san is here?" Al asked.
"Fullmetal's worried for you." Roy said: "What happened?"
"I was kidnapped by Archer. He is a homunculus. He took me to his 'Father' and I was taken here until Yao Ling took me out of the palace. Then, I ran into the ex Fuhrer as well as Lt and Sophie..." Al's voice trailed off at the name of Sophie: "We fought and I guess you should know what happen after that, but the Philosopher's stone has been stolen by someone else."
Riza glanced at Roy questioningly.
"I think we better get out of here first." Roy said, looking at Al: "Especially you."
"I don't think it's possible now." The voice of Dante said as she walked out into the light, glazing at them with relaxed smile: "As you see, you are completely surrounded." There were a number of Xingness soldiers standing besides her as well as King Bradley.
"I was too careless." Roy said with a frown, putting on his gloves and taking out his pistol.
_
On the dark street, a girl revealed her face as Ran Fan as she took out the Philosopher's stone from her pocket. She did not notice Triffany and Godoa following her.
"RAN FAN!" Ed suddenly called from afar: "Have you seen Al anywhere?" He suddenly caught sight of the stone in Ran Fan's hands.
"It's for an important matter!" Ran Fan said uneasily and tried to run away, but Triffany and Godoa blocked her path.
Ed growled and was about to assist Ran Fan when Winry pointed out at a direction. There was a fire, followed by noise of fighting.
"Damnit," Ed growled as he noticed the three figures had vanished during his diversion of attention and ran towards the commotion. Winry ran with him.
"You wait here, Winry, it's dangerous there!" Ed shouted back and ran off without her. He almost jumped when a whirlwind rose in the air sweeping several soldiers into the sky, followed by mixtures of screams, mixed with the familiar yelp of Al in pain.
"ALLLLL!" Ed screamed and ran just in time to see Al being pulled with his arms behind his back in the firm grip of King Bradley. Ed growled and transmuted his automail arm into sword and attacked King Bradley.
Roy flicked his flame at King Bradley who was forced to release Al. He gasped in shock as he spotted some soldiers released gun powders at the flame alchemist. Riza yelled something inaudible as she rushed to Roy's side.
At the other side, Scar, Lust and Chang Mei looked up to see tongues of fire, mixed with shouts and wind in the other side of the street and ran against the running people to see what was going on.
Along the way, Scar noticed more soldiers cordoning the area to block further people from entering the place. "Let's wait nearby and watch instead." He said. Lust nodded.
"XIAO MEI!" screamed Chang Mei tearfully as her little panda was lost in the commotion. "Xiao Mei's gone!"
"We can always look for her later." Lust said firmly, dragging the unwilling girl.
Just then, there was a big explosion and several buildings collapsed. _
Envy returned to Sloth's side after checking certain matters with some soldiers to find him lying dead on the ground, thoroughly burnt and his philosopher's stone within himself missing. As expected, Archer who had been tied up had escaped during Envy's absense.
"Wow, this is the craziest homunculus I've ever seen." Envy said, staring at Sloth's decomposing corpse, realising that Frank Archer had attacked Sloth while the latter was having a nap the moment Envy left his side. _
Chang Mei's little panda-Xiao Mei was panicking as people around it ran around in fear upon the first sign of battle from afar.
"Is it a war?" Some bewildered people were asking others as they hurried from the chaotic zone.
"Are you lost, little fellow?" A man asked the little panda as he picked it up gently in his large hand. The man had blond short hair and was wearing tattered Amestris military uniform.
"Lt Havoc! We have all thought you were dead!" came Winry's surprised voice from behind as she ran up to him.
Lt Havoc turned to look at her and smiled: "You have grown up so much, Winry, I can hardly recognised you. Were you saying this body belongs to a man named Lt Havoc?"
Winry's eyes widened with fear: "Who are you?"
"I'm Edward and Alphonse's father, Light Hohenheim. I think Dante has transferred my soul into the body of Havoc during the last fight." The man said, scratching his chin.
_
TBC
AU: Realised I had drafted the subsequent chapters a few years ago after all.. So I'm posting again to complete this fanfic on this account...