Chapter 2: A Family I Never Knew

ZUKO'S P.O.V.

I have a brother...

No, I have two brothers...

Either way it came as a shock to me.

The boys who we just met in a alley way defending us against a murderer are my younger brothers.

Toph said, "Can someone tell me what's going on? Hello, blind here!"

Sokka said, "The painting of Zuko's mother looks just like a picture of the Elrics' mother."

I said, "That because it's the same person..."

Ed nodded and said, "Both have the same hair color, eye shape, face structure, and more importantly, the scar on her left temple."

I nodded and said, "My mother had told me that when she was young, she..."

Al interrupted and said, "Fell down a large hill and hit her head against the rocks..."

I looked at him and nodded.

Mustang smirked and said, "Well Fullmetal, looks like you have another brother..."

Then Sokka said, "And they also have a sister but..."

Ed and Al said, "WE WHAT?!"

I sighed and said, "Azula... She's not the kindest person...

" Ed looked at me and said, "We know how that goes... Our bastard of a father left us, when I was four. Never came back even after..."

He paused for a moment and said, "Zuko... There's something you should know..."

I heard a ring and Mustang picked up a device.

He began to talk and he set it down.

Mustang looked at Ed and said, "We'll have to pick up the long lost family reunion later. McDougal has been spotted."

Ed nodded and said, "Let's get him before he kills more..."

I nodded and said, "We can help as well."

Mustang nodded and said, "Then let's get moving!"

EDWARD'S P.O.V.

A man yelled, "Call it in! We have 8 men dead."

We looked at the man who's skin was steaming.

I said, "He turns water into steam, with the force of an explosion. The human body is 70% water."

Katara nodded and said, "So he boiled him from the inside out... Horrible..."

I saw explosion in the distance and Al said, "That's the Major's alchemy!"

In moments a huge man walked out, he had a single lock of blonde hair coming from his head. We knew that to be Major Armstrong.

Al smiled and said, "It's nice to see you again Major!"

The Major nodded and said, "Ah, The Elric Brothers, a pleasure as always, but may I ask you are your comparatives?"

Aang stepped forward and said, "I'm Aang, this is Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko."

The Major smiled and said, "I am Major Alex Louis Armstrong, The Strong Arm Alchemist!"

I sighed and said, "We better get moving before the death toll rises..."

Al nodded and asked, "Hey Major, where did you see McDougal last?"

He walked us over to an alley way.

Al nodded and said, "He's been spotted in alleyways all over the city, which means..."

I nodded and said, "He'll come back, to make sure his circle is still here."

Al nodded and said, "Everybody hide..."

Sure enough after about 30 minutes, McDougal showed up and began moving away the broken stone.

"Perfect! It's still here!"

I stepped out of the shadows and said, "I was wondering what you were doing in this alley. So we decided to come back and check it out and Bingo!"

Al came out at the other end and said, "There's no where to run! Give up now!"

McDougal laughed and said, "Who's says I'm running?"

The circle lit up with red sparks and more sparks lit up all over the city.

Al said, "An alchemic reaction on this size..."

I smiled and said, "He has a Philosopher's Stone!"

Finally! The thing we've been searching for!

The alleyway began to freeze over.

Sokka said with surprise, "He's freezing the liquid in the air..."

McDougal ran over to a pool.

I yelled, "Give us the Philosopher's Stone, Freezer!"

He laughed and said, "No I don't think so."

The frost touched the water and a huge ice wall formed.

Freezer grabbed the railing as the ice wall brought it up.

The ice wall began moving forward.

I yelled, "Major it's all yours!"

Major Armstrong stepped out wearing his alchemy gloves and said, "Leave it to me. For the Armstrong style of alchemy has been past down for generations!"

He punched the ice wall making go back a few feet.

Then it swivel to the left and began going through buildings.

Toph said, "Well that's unexpected... He made it turn..."

I yelled, "You made it worse!"

Armstrong said, "I'm sorry, I was only trying to help..."

Aang looked at the ice walls and said, "The ice walls are going to meet..."

Al yelled, "It's Central Command he's going to freeze it over!"

I looked at Armstrong and said, "We'll stall McDougal. Can you, Sokka, Toph, Aang, and Katara handle the transmutation circles?"

He nodded and said, "Consider them erased."

They majority of the group ran off, while Zuko, Al and I made our way to the ice wall.

The Freezer looked at the command center and said, "Furher King Bradly, for your crimes at Ishval, I sentence you to a frozen hell..."

I yelled, "Not so fast!" I used alchemy to launch us on top of the three of us on top of wall.

Freezer yelled, "You fools! I'm trying to save this country!"

I yelled, "We don't give a dam!"

Zuko destroyed the ice below McDougal using his fire bending abilty.

McDougal jumped on to Al, transmuted his face, causing him to fall and knocked his helmet off.

Al's kicked Freezer off and stood up showing he was hollow inside...

Zuko whispered, "What the hell... I thought Toph was joking when she said you were empty..."

I picked up his helmet and placed it back on the armor that was Al's body.

McDougal looks at the armor and said, "There's no one in there. It's empty...! But that... that could only be true if his soul was bonded to the armor...So you lost your arm...and you...you lost your entire body... Heh! I see... it all makes sense... You fools committed the ultimate taboo! You attempted human transmutation, didn't you?! Alchemy's one and only unforgivable sin!"

I looked down and said in a whisper, "You know... There are some lines you really shouldn't cross."

I hit McDougal with my automail fist, knocking him off his ice mound.

We all slid down and I said, "It's over McDougal, there no water here!"

The Freezer laughed and said, "You forget, I have all the water I need, 70% of my body!"

Two bloody ice spikes came out of McDougal and jab themselves into both me and Zuko's shoulders.

Al yelled, "Brothers!"

Heh... Al's calling Zuko brother too?

This is going to get confusing as hell...

McDougal runs down an alley, and tries to get away.

Zuko and I both stand up and pull the blood ice out of their shoulders.

I said, "I'm not letting that bastard get away..."

We all ran down the alley he went down to see, a blanket over the murderous alchemist and above him was a man with an eye patch.

Al and I, immediate salute him and said, "Furher King Bradly, Sir!"

Zuko lean over to me and asked, "Who is he?"

I said, "He the ruler of the country, Zuko. Show him some respect!"

The Furher smiled and said, "Ah, yes my rising star. I came out to see if I could help, and to think I'd be the one to catch him. This should at least make an interesting story for my son."

Zuko looked at me and said, "Ed... Why is Al hallow and what was that Freezer guy talking about?"

I sighed and said, "We explain, but let's wait till we're all back that way we don't have to explain multiple times..."

I looked at my half brother and said, "Zuko... You need to know this now... Our mother... She died from a sickness around four years ago..."

Zuko's eyes widen and he said, "No... It can be... I traveled around the world to find her again and she died..."

Tears drizzled down his cheeks as he fell to his knees in pure grief.

I sat down beside him and said, "Yeah... I know it hurts... It hurts even worse when... We found her..."

I let a little bit of tears loose and said, "She was always there for us... Even in the end, she was trying to do something for us..."

I let loose the amount of tears I had built up over the years, letting my face drown in the sorrow trying to comfort my new found brother...