Ninjagirl: Yup, here's the sixth chapter of The Lightning Alchemist Chronicles. :D Which I needed to finish anyway. But yeah. Six chapters already! I'm on a roll with this! I haven't left it hanging for years like my other ones! I'm proud of that. Anyway. Disclaimer. Lust! Miss Whore!
Lust: -walks in- What do you want?
Ninjagirl: For you to quit preening and do the disclaimer.
Lust: -sighs- BlackNinjagirl does not own my luscious self—
Ninjagirl: -rolls eyes-
Lust: —or the Fullmetal shrimp—
Ed: I AM NOT SHORT!
Ninjagirl: -snickers- That never gets old.
Lust: -ignores him- —or anything except Rai and this story, so no suing or she'd end up pathetically whimpering.
Ninjagirl: Yup, cause Rowen belongs to Thestormslayer. My lil bro. -eyetwitches- You can leave now.
Lust: -leaves-
Ninjagirl: I honestly cannot stand her. Anyway. Enjoy the story! Review replies at the end of the chapter like always.
Note: Thanks to Thestormslayer for betaing this chapter! Mainly so I don't screw up with portraying his character. xD
The Lightning Alchemist Chronicles
By BlackNinjagirl
Chapter Six: Ishbal and Marcoh and Scar, Oh My!
Rai, Ed, and Al were headed down a street, Ed stopping and looking around for a minute before consulting a map.
Rai huffed. "Ed, you've looked at that thing how many times now?" she said exasperatedly.
Ed rolled his eyes. "I want to make sure I have the right directions, Rai."
Rai huffed. "You don't have to look at it ten thousand times to know that…"
Ed blinked. "Rai, is something bothering you?"
Rai crossed her arms. "No, it's nothing," she told him in a calmer voice. "Just anxious, I suppose."
Ed blinked. "Anxious? For what?"
Rai shook her head. "I just have a bad feeling….stupid really."
"I don't think it's stupid, Ed always attracts trouble, no matter where we go," Al put in.
Rai nodded. "You have a point there." Thing was, she had a worse feeling than usual… "We should get going, you two. We need to find Marcoh, remember?"
The Elrics nodded. "Right," Ed agreed before the three of them headed down a pathway.
The three of them ended up in a town and were talking to a man and his seven-year-old son.
"Doctor Marcoh?" the guy asked, blinking, when Rai asked him about the man they were looking for.
"You mean Master Maroh," the boy interjected.
"No, Marcoh," Al corrected.
"Sorry, this town has only one doctor, and Master Maroh is his name," the guy told them.
Rai frowned. Why would Marcoh call himself Maroh? He likely wouldn't be trying to hide his identity unless…Her eyes widened.
They continued asking around, one guy replying, "As you can see, folks don't have much money here. Travel's hard-used to take a half day trip to East City to see a doctor, before he came."
"He's a nice man," an old lady told them. "He'll take in any patient, even people they said were incurable elsewhere."
"When I got my leg caught under the tractor and thought I was done, he fixed me like you couldn't even tell it had happened," another guy later told them, his eight-year-old daughter putting in, "He treated me when I was sick, too. There was a big flash of light."
Rai's eyebrows rose when they walked away. "A big flash of light, huh? Sounds like alchemy."
Ed nodded. "Yeah…"
"But he's a fugitive," Al interjected. "Why would he turn into a miracle-working doctor?"
Ed shrugged. "I dunno… but maybe we should pay him a little visit."
Rai didn't say anything, however—that bad feeling hadn't gone away yet and it had her on her highest guard, looking around at the people and noticing a man that seemed vaguely familiar to her as they headed for the doctor's house.
They walked for a minute or so before Ed suddenly shoved the both of them into a haystack and jumped in after them.
"Ed!" Rai had just enough time to yell out before Ed clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Shhh," he told the both of them. "Look."
Rai blinked but peeked out, and almost instantly a look of horror came over her face when she saw a muscular man in a military outfit with a single blonde hair over his face and the rest shaved off. (A/N: Guess who? XD) "…Oh dear God, kill me now."
Ed blinked at her. "You know him?"
"Yeah, but I wish I didn't. He's a State Alchemist…"
"I know that, I recognized him from Central. But what's he doing here?"
"Probably following us," Al put in.
Rai nodded. "Mustang likely sent him to follow us." She watched him looked around a few times before he left, Rai breathing out a sigh of relief as he left and Ed jumped out, dusting himself off.
"We'd better head straight to Marcoh's from here," Ed told them. "C'mon."
It wasn't long before they were at the house and Al knocked on the door, it bursting open and Rai's eyes widened when an older man with greying black hair opened the door, pointing a gun at Ed and herself.
"I'm not going back!" he yelled out.
"Whoa whoa…calm down, We're not going to take you anywhere," Rai told him, blinking and raising her hands in surrender. "We just want to talk."
Marcoh didn't lower the gun. "I'm not going back to that place!"
'That place'? What's he talking about? Rai thought to herself as Al stepped forward.
"Shoot me if you want to, but you'll just hurt yourself…" the armored boy said, Rai blinking at him as Al stepped towards the man as Marcoh finally lowered the gun, Rai breathing a sigh of relief as she heard Ed sigh in relief as well, and Marcoh invited them inside.
It didn't take long for Ed to get to the point. "What do you know about the Philosopher's Stone?"
"…Ed…" Rai started to say, but she noticed Ed was focused on Marcoh so she added a mumbled, "Never mind."
She saw Maroh start a little at the mention of the Philosopher's Stone and his eyes glanced over towards a wall on the left side of the room, Ed running over to the wall and smashing a hole in it before pulling out a vial of opaque red liquid, looking it over.
Rai blinked. "….Is that…?"
"Yeah… it's a Philosopher's Stone…" Ed replied, looking it over, Al picking Ed up suddenly and Ed flailing before it fell out of Ed's hands and the vial shattered on the floor, but the three of them watched as the liquid splatted like liquid before it pulled itself together into an oval shape, now resembling that of a gel.
"…It's not a liquid or a solid," Rai noted, her mind flashing back to the fake stone that had been in Cornello's ring, remembering how it had shattered, the pieces having oddly evaporated into thin air. "It's more like…gel or something."
Al dropped Ed and the smaller alchemist went over to pick up the Stone, looking it over curiously. "It makes sense…" Ed murmured. "The Stone wouldn't follow rules of matter either."
There was the sound of a door opening and a soldier ran in, just before a man Rai recognized as Brigadier General Basque Grahn walked in.
Rai and the other two alchemists stood up. "Grahn. What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm here to get back what's mine," Grahn retorted.
"Like hell you are!"
Grahn snorted. "The Sage's Stone. The Celestial Stone. The Great Elixir. The Red Danger. The Next Element. Did you really think a substance of so many names would be limited to the form of a stone?"
"…Brigadier Grahn," Ed said finally.
"Brigadier?" Marcoh said with mild surprise. "Well, you've worked your way up."
"You're damn right, Crystal Alchemist. And now you'll turn the Philosopher's Stone and all of its research over to me," Grahn said as he looked at Marcoh.
Rai blinked as Ed exclaimed, "The Philosopher's Stone? That thing?"
Grahn turned back to Ed. "An experimental leap at best, a roulette at worst. You never know when it will reach its peak and backfire. An unstable, defective product, different from the true stone. But during the Rebellion it did augment our abilities and make us tremendously powerful."
"You mean, the military hasn't just looked for the stone? In the past, it's worked to develop it?" Al asked curiously.
Rai kept silent, curious herself as to this new discovery. Something in her mind clicked itself into place. So that was where Mustang used to go and came back all sticky… he was covered in blood from the Rebellion. She kept watching the others.
Ed seemed to perk up. "Never mind that it isn't perfect, it was made by human hands and it worked! That means the concept is possible. The Philosopher's Stone isn't a myth! Where are the design specs?"
Rai's lips thinned slightly. Grahn just ordered to get all the research and everything on the stone. Likely, you're not going to get it, Ed…
Grahn turned to Ed, his eyes narrowing slightly. "And what do you plan on doing with it when you see it? Increase your meddling, Fullmetal?"
Rai narrowed her own eyes. "We're not meddling, Brigadier. We're trying to get back what we lost. Not like you could understand that anyway, you're just trying to get back your precious stone."
"This research is top secret and falls under my jurisdiction. I can't permit you access to it," Grahn added, ignoring Rai. He then turned to the soldiers with him. "Let's go."
"No, let go of me!" Marcoh exclaimed as the soldiers grabbed him and dragged him out, Marcoh struggling against them and protesting that he didn't want to go back. "My hands are already stained!"
The three of them walked outside, and Rai blinked when he heard Marcoh say the last words. Already stained…? She thought of Mustang coming home all covered in blood and she blinked. I wonder…
"This is just like before," Ed murmured under his breath, Rai looking at him for a second then back at Marcoh.
It didn't take long for her to make up her mind. "Get back here!" she yelled, jumping over the stair banister and landing on her feet in a crouch before she stood up and took off after the car.
"What the hell? RAI! Wait up!" Ed yelled after her and the Elric brothers followed her.
Rai kept running after the car, managing to grab onto the back and hop onto the trunk of the car as it drove off, balancing on the back, but she was caught off-guard when it suddenly swerved to a halt and Rai ended up falling off. "Ow… Maybe I shouldn't have done that…"
She got to her feet just as Ed and Al caught up with her and the three of them turned to see what had caused them to stop, seeing a man that had an X-shaped scar across his forehead and white-grey hair and wore glasses as well as a tan shirt with a cross on the back and black pants with boots.
"…Who the hell are you?" Rai asked, just before the man raised his right arm and placed it on the front of the car, and the next thing Rai knew, there was no car. She sweatdropped. Well, I'm glad I got off when I did…
"Finally, the Iron Blood Alchemist, Bas Grahn," the scarred man said.
What the hell! Is he some kind of alchemist stalker or something? Rai thought.
"Bad timing," Grahn told the scarred man. "And just when I got my hands on this." He pulled out the Philosopher's Stone, but before he could use it, the scarred man ran forward and placed his hand on Grahn's face, and Rai saw blood spurt out of any open spot in Grahn's head as well as the back of his head, like something had imploded from inside of his head.
"…What the hell…?" Rai exclaimed, her eyes widening. She tried to move, but it was like her body was frozen in ice. She couldn't even move her automail arm. It's like back then… I couldn't move back then either…
The scarred man then looked at Marcoh. "Crystal Alchemist, Doctor Marcoh. What you did… I'll have to take special care…" He walked over to Marcoh, raising his arm. "…to wash you out of this world for your transgressions."
Marcoh blinked. "I see… Yes, go ahead. How can I protest?"
Damn it, move! she told herself, trying to move again. Twitch, snap, anything! Her arm then decided to jerk and she narrowly avoided punching herself, and after that she found she could move. She took the chance to grab Ed's arm and yank it to pull him free from his frozen state.
"Thanks, I needed that," Ed told her, Rai just nodding as she turned back to look at Marcoh and 'Scarred Man', as Rai dubbed him in her mind.
"In the name of the Great Almighty one, thou shalt perish," Scarred Man added, moving his hand towards Marcoh's head, just before Ed ran over and pulled Marcoh out of the way and the four of them ran like hell away from Scarred Man.
"It's okay, leave me behind," Marcoh told them.
"We're saving your ass and that's all you can say?" Rai retorted. "Some thanks that is."
"You really gotta work on that attitude," Ed agreed.
"Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric and Lightning Alchemist Rai Kagerai. The two of you won't escape either!" Rai heard Scarred Man call after them.
"What the hell is he, a damned stalker?.!" Rai grumbled under her breath as they ran.
She heard Ed laugh a little at that remark, but said nothing as they kept running.
They turned a corner and not far into it, after they passed a doorway, Rai heard Al say, "Brother! Rai! This way!" and they headed into it, Al pressing a hand to a readied transmutation circle to transmute a wall over the doorway so as to hide them.
Rai let out a sigh, but about ten seconds later there were red sparks and Rai let out a curse before jumping back, just before the wall exploded.
"Great, so now he's a psychic stalker," Rai muttered before the four of them turned and ran the other way.
It wasn't long at all before Rai caught the sounds of alchemical lightning and the pathway in front of them had rocks fall down in front of them, cutting their escape route.
"…Definitely a psychic stalker," Rai muttered, turning around to face their attacker. "Guess we'll have to do things the hard way."
Ed glared at Scarred Man. "Who in the hell are you? And what the hell are you coming after us for?.!"
"You're the creators of this society. There must also be destroyers!" Scarred Man retorted.
"You can't understand! Please, Ed, leave me alone. Run!" Marcoh pleaded.
"Get a grip on yourself," Rai retorted. "You're just going to give up and die? Stupid thing to do." She clapped her hands and transmuted a sword from a nearby rock, which sparked with electricity as she spun it. "I don't care what you say, we're not just going to take this laying down."
Ed smiled a little at that and transmuted a knife of his own, his own way of saying wordlessly, 'I'm with her,' just as Al got into a fighting stance of his own.
Scarred Man looked at both Rai and Ed. "…You both have a kind look in your eyes… my older brother's were exactly the same. Eyes that were strong, and that peered into the endless distance, as if seeing something I could not." He looked at Ed. "It was three years ago, yes. I was glad to hear you'd given up being a State Alchemist so I could take you off my list, but now…"
Rai blinked. So that watch I saw on Mustang's desk was Ed's? Why did he quit in the first place? …I'll ask him about it later.
"Yeah, now… Too bad, isn't it," Ed retorted before he ran towards Scarred Man and made to attack him, Scarred Man moving out of the way and moving to attack Ed when Rai let loose a bolt towards Scar, but not before Al jumped in the way of Scar's attack on Ed so that Al ended up taking the hit on his arm instead, the bolt bouncing off of Al's armor and nearly hitting Marcoh.
I can't make a clear shot with Al in the way, she grumbled to herself. Guess I'll have to go hand-to-hand… She watched them carefully, looking for her chance to jump in.
"Al!" Ed exclaimed, worried about his younger brother.
"Don't mistake your fortune, that alchemy was designed for human flesh, that's why you escaped with only a dent," Scarred Man told Al. "This time, stay out of this! My only enemies are State Alchemists and those who stand between."
Rai narrowed her eyes before there was a snap and a lightning bolt careened towards Scarred Man, the strange alchemist leaping backwards to avoid it as Rai walked over to stand next to Al and Ed. "Then you'll have to deal with me too, if you want to try and kill my best friend." She stabbed her sword in the ground and raised her hand in a stance similar to that of Mustang.
Ed blinked at her, then turned back to the man with the X-shaped scar. "Why? Why are you after us?"
"Alchemists are those who take things away from their natural form and turn them into something grotesque," Scarred Man retorted.
Rai frowned. "You destroying things is the same thing, you know."
Scarred Man glared at her. "In hubris, they profane God, creator of all, and claim they have a better design."
"Bullshit," Rai retorted. "If that were the case then there wouldn't be alchemists in the first place."
Scarred Man just stared at her. "So alchemists are heretics too, I see."
Rai twitched. "That's not what I said! Quit twisting my words!"
Scarred Man just looked back at Ed. "I come as a right hand, an agent of God, to carry out his judgment."
Al stepped forward. "I'm an alchemist too. I may not have a state certification, but…"
"Why do you seek death?" Scarred Man asked Al, cutting him off midsentence.
"I don't," came Al's response. "But you mentioned that you had an older brother, didn't you? Then you can understand why I can't just sit by and watch my older brother get killed." There was a pause as the scarred man just watched him, and Al added, "Even you should-!"
"I do," Scarred Man cut across him. "I understand exactly how it feels to have your brother murdered before your eyes, and you can't do a thing. In fact, maybe… I'll show ED!"
Rai stood in front of Al defensively, and when Ed ran towards Scar, Rai blinked as Scar grabbed his right arm. "Ed!" she yelled as the red lightning went around Ed's arm and Ed yelled before falling backwards… and Rai noticed his arm was still intact. Scarred Man looked between Ed and his hand, staying on Ed as he got back up.
"…Automail," he said after a minute. "So your right hand begets destruction as well."
"Don't you start with that. We're nothing alike, pal!" Ed retorted before clapping his hands and transmuting his automail arm into a sword before he ran at Scarred Man to attack him, but both of them stopped when there was a loud explosion and three arrows shot past towards their attacker, Rai blinking at them.
"Oh God. I really didn't want to deal with him right now," she grumbled.
The same man Ed, Al, and Rai had seen earlier stepped out of the smoke and walked over towards them.
"…The State Alchemist?" Ed said with a blink. "What's he doing here?"
"Following us! Obviously!" Rai retorted.
Al went defensive. "You've come for Doctor Marcoh?"
The State Alchemist just walked past Al and Marcoh, and Ed went defensive, Rai mentally praying he doesn't go all sparkly on them as he put a hand on both Ed's and Rai's shoulders, Ed looking surprised.
"I'm sorry I'm late. The Lieutenant Colonel ordered me to tail you as protection."
So Hughes ordered it. I see. Least now I know he won't go all sparkles, he's in serious mode at the moment. Rai was a bit relieved at that as she moved over to stand behind Ed.
The State Alchemist turned to the scarred man. "I heard you on my way in here. You say you're an agent of God? Then why don't you try passing judgment on me. That's Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist!"
Rai nudged Ed. "I say we get the hell out of here before he goes all sparkly."
Ed nodded and they went over to meet up with Al and Marcoh.
"Well…. What a righteous day this is turning out to be, that you would save me the trouble of finding you," Rai heard Scarred Man say.
"You're facing off against a technique that's been passed down the Armstrong line for generations! That's hardly a blessing!" She heard Armstrong grunt as the four of them left.
"Oh thank God. I didn't have to deal with the sparkles," Rai breathed out as they ran for the exit. "That would have been a nightmare."
They got through the exit and Marcoh fell to all fours, panting, Rai leaning on a nearby tree trying to catch her breath and Ed with his hands on his knees.
Rai saw Ed stand up and hold out the Philosopher's Stone to Marcoh. "Here, you dropped this."
Marcoh took it and blinked at Ed. "But isn't this what you're after? Didn't you think about taking this and leaving?"
"Of course," Ed told him. "The younger me would have walked away with it without a second thought. But I can't forget the face of all the people we saw today, and you used that in your treatments, right? That stone belongs to them, and so do you."
Marcoh just stared at him in shock, not saying a word.
"Well? You ready?" he asked, looking at Rai, the Lightning Alchemist nodding , having caught her breath rather quickly. "We've gotta find a place the military or that killer won't find us."
Marcoh blinked. "You think we can escape?"
Rai knew what was coming next, and she said it at the same time Ed did. "You've got legs, don't ya? Let's put them to work."
Ed looked at Rai and laughed lightly, Rai grinning back. "You know me too well, Rai."
"Damn right I do. I'm your best friend, remember?"
Ed grinned. "Riiight, how could I forget?"
Rai rolled her eyes and flicked his ear before the three of them headed out.
Sometime later found the four of them—Ed, Al, Rai, and Marcoh—all in the middle of an alleyway hiding from the military, and they encountered a shop and stopped there.
"This is a bigger hassle then I first thought," Rai muttered.
Ed looked around, then heard the dog next to them barking and Ed turned his back while Rai sat in a nearby chair as if posing for a picture, Al and Marcoh hiding behind a couple of pots as the cars passed by, and Rai relaxed, sighing, as Ed asked for a back door and the four of them headed through the place.
After a good bit of walking, Rai grumbled, "Are we there yet?"
"No, Rai," Ed retorted. "If we were there yet we'd be resting."
"True enough," Rai retorted. "I just didn't think it was this far to the train station."
"You're telling me," Ed countered. "I didn't think it was this far to walk either, but we're also taking the long way trying to avoid all these military trucks."
"I know, I know." She sighed. "Let's just keep moving…"
There was more walking and they ended up in a smaller alleyway where some kids were playing, Marcoh watching them play, and Ed started to walk off again when Rai stopped him.
"Dr. Marcoh?" she asked, curiously.
Marcoh continued watching the kids when he finally said, "I can't do this…"
Rai raised an eyebrow.
"I can't keep running like this. I've run long enough, I don't care if that man kills me…" Marcoh continued. "How can I, when it's something I deserve…"
"What do you mean?" Rai asked him.
"I'm missing the connection," Ed put in. "Why do you deserve death just because he's from Ishbal?"
"The rebellion, right? Ed told me Mustang was sad about that too," Al put in. "But why? They started the war for independence, right? They lost lives, but so did the military."
"If all of us wore revenge every time we lost a war, there'd be no end to it. A cycle without a point," Ed added.
Rai just watched Marcoh, noticing he'd shadowed his eyes. "…Doc?"
"You're not listening," Marcoh said finally. "That was no war…"
Then, when Mustang came back all bloody… Rai's hazel eyes widened.
"…It was a massacre," Marcoh continued. "The people of Ishbal are an ethnic people in the East. They worshipped Ishbala as the one and only creator. They came from a different history so we see the world from a different lens. Our world was sulfurs and nitrogen, science and math. We believe everything can be explained with numbers and Equivalent Exchange as our sacred cannon. But to them alchemy is a perversion of the world God has given us, corrupting man by putting us in Ishbala's place. As a result, resistance movements would pop up from time to time.
"One day during a house inspection, a soldier accidentally shot and killed an Ishbalan child. The incident became a rally. Massive riots and uprisings broke out all over the region. It was too much, too fast. The military couldn't control their soldiers in the process, and it became fuel for the fire. It escalated into a full-scale rebellion that lasted seven years, until the Fuhrer had had enough. He sent in the problem solvers, the State Alchemists…"
Rai looked down, crossing her arms. From all the blood I remember seeing on Mustang when he came back several times, it had to have been one… "…Mustang was in it too, wasn't he?"
Ed blinked as Marcoh turned around and looked at her. "…He was one of the State Alchemists involved, yes," Marcoh told her.
"…I thought so…I vaguely remember him coming home quite a few times covered in blood…he always said it was jelly or something else…"
Ed made a startled noise. "He babysat you?"
Rai looked at Ed. "…No… he's my legal guardian. Has been since I was about two or so…"
"You never told me that! It explains a lot though."
"…I didn't? I thought I did." She looked at Marcoh. "Anything else we should know about?"
Marcoh, however, seemed to have a distant look on his face as he continued. "…Grahn insisted that they use the Philosopher's Stones in order to end the war quickly…"
Ed blinked. "So what happened? How did the Ishbalans react to your weaponry?"
"They didn't."
"What…?" Al asked, sounding shocked.
"Every gathering place for resistance, the State Alchemists were sent to. They were all wiped out in a single night."
Rai was shocked. "Damn… one night…? That's just…"
Marcoh nodded. "You see why I call it a massacre…"
Ed and Al were too shocked to say anything, then a kid suddenly yelled out in pain and grabbed his ankle, and Marcoh ran over, pulling out the stone and hovering it near the kid's ankle while he continued, "There were doctors that would go and heal the wounded. It didn't matter what side you were from, if you needed help, they'd give it to you." Marcoh looked at the kid once the stone's glow had faded. "How's that feel?"
The kid moved it around and grinned before he got back up and went back to playing, Marcoh turning back to the three alchemists. "However, they were casualties too."
"…Wait. They killed doctors too? Why? That's stupid," Rai interjected.
Marcoh just continued his story, explaining that he had seen the doctors killed. "…And so I left, taking the Philosopher's Stones and the research explaining how to create them. But I acted much too late…the people of Ishbal had largely been exterminated. I heard that our military let only a handful survive."
Rai kept quiet, listening to their conversation, her mind going back to Mustang coming home covered in blood and insisting it was not blood but jelly, or something different.
"That's grabbed granite, but there's no reason for him to come after you," Ed pointed out.
"He wants revenge… what could be more legitimate?" Marcoh replied.
"He's dragging people into it that had nothing to do with it. How can you talk about legitimacy? He's a fraud, he's on a tirade of personal vengeance and he hides behind this excuse of God's will so he can claim it's noble."
"Still," Al put in. "If someone took you away from me, I think I would do the same thing. Isn't that Equivalent Exchange?"
"No!" Ed retorted as Rai shook her head. "That's not how the principle works, haven't you learned that yet?"
You don't see me going on a rampage, do you? I mean, damn, my brother was killed… she thought to herself, but didn't say out loud.
"Destroying lives doesn't bring lives back," Ed added. "We all just need to live and be content while we can."
There was a short pause before Ed noticed the dent still there and walked over to Al before he clapped his hands and fixed it, Rai watching him as he did so.
Ed then looked up and turned to Marcoh, Rai recognizing the look on his face as one he usually got when he had an idea. "Doctor Marcoh, why don't you let us hide you in our hometown for a while? It's just three days on a train from here, right?"
"It might be hard on us going back there though," Al pointed out.
That's not a bad idea… from what he's told me, it's a little village in the mountains, right? "Hey, I'm up for it," Rai interjected. " Might be nice to see where you guys used to live. That and I don't really see my automail engineer very often, so…"
"Winry would be glad to fix your automail," Al put in.
"If you don't mind getting conked on the head by a wrench when you break it," Ed added.
Rai laughed. "Sounds painful…"
"It is…" He turned to Marcoh. "We have some friends up there, the Rockbells, they make automail.
"Rockbell? No, I can't do that," Marcoh's voice told him, and Rai turned around to see that Marcoh had a shocked yet sad look on his face. "I can't go there… I'm sorry."
"…The hell is wrong with him?" Rai asked out loud as Al called for the doctor to wait and the three of them ran after him.
They caught up a few minutes later, Ed calling out to the older man as Rai leaned on the wall slightly, "Doctor Marcoh! It's your call, we don't have to go anywhere you don't trust. We're not trying to steal your research."
"No, Ed," Marcoh retorted, panting, "there are other reasons I can't go there with you three."
"…Like what?" Rai asked, blinking. "It is because of—?"
She was cut off midsentence when they heard gunshots and none other than the scarred man, whom they had dubbed Scar previously, leapt down from above and landed right smack between them.
Rai got off the wall and readied for action. "Great, you again!"
Scar didn't say a word before he spun to attack Marcoh, Rai moving to stop him, but Al got there first, grabbing Scar's arm to stop him, and Scar spun to face Al.
"This time I have an attack ready for you!" he yelled out before his arm his Al's flank, and Rai's eyes widened as most of the side of Al's armor just shattered.
"Al!" Ed yelled before he ran over and started attacking Scar.
Damn it, not again… my body won't move! Rai was paralyzed with fear. Again. Damn it!
Scar soon caught Ed's metal fist in his right hand. "By clasping your hands you make an array with your body and circulate the alchemic reaction within. I know your secret, without this sinful arm you can't transmute quickly. That is your weakness."
Ed's and Rai's eyes widened as red lightning sparked and Ed's automail arm suddenly shattered, sending Ed flying backwards and landing him on his side.
"ED!" Rai yelled out, finally able to move, Al yelling out, "BROTHER!"
Rai started to run over to Ed as the blonde sat up, but stopped when she saw Scar walk over towards him. It's just like back then… I couldn't do a damn thing!
"I will give you a moment to pray," Scar told Ed.
"Thanks for the gesture, but I don't believe. Stopped a long time ago," came Ed's response.
Scar continued staring at him, silent.
"Back at the town, you told me you lost your older brother…died in Ishbal, right?"
"Correct, Fullmetal," Scar replied. "He was killed by a State Alchemist."
"Well, I'm the oldest brother, so take my life and go. That's equivalent exchange, don't you think?"
"Brother, no!" Al exclaimed. "A life doesn't equal a life! You said it yourself!"
"You stay out of this, Al, I'm doing what's fair!" Ed yelled back at him. "I'm a State Alchemist, I should be enough…"
"Very well," Scar told Ed. "I will spare your younger brother."
"You're not killing him if I can help it!" Rai yelled suddenly before she ran over, jumping over Ed's head, and kicked Scar in the chest with her automail leg, Scar skidding back but grabbing Rai's leg and attempting to destroy it but failing, instead tearing apart the pants that covered her automail, though Rai was pretty much dangling from one foot.
"Rai, what the hell are you doing?.!" Ed asked as Rai kicked Scar's chin with her free leg, forcing Scar to drop her and shifting it into a backflip so that she landed in front of Ed, before she spun around and punched him, hard, across his cheek.
"You goddamned idiot!" she yelled at him. "Sacrificing yourself to save Al? Aren't you supposed to be trying to get his body back? I can't do that, that's your job! If you're going to let yourself get killed and leave Al the way he is, then you're pretty much going back on your promise to him!"
Ed's eyes widened.
"I swear, Ed, you're a damned idiot sometimes," Rai snorted before she spun to kick Scar again with her automail leg, though Scar caught her metal ankle and red lightning sparked before it, too, shattered, Rai falling backwards. "Oh, goddamnit!" she yelled when it shattered. "This is just not my day!"
Scar moved to put his hand on her head instead, Rai's eyes widening as she shook. "You will pass judgment for your crimes, Lightning Alchemist."
"RAI!" Ed and Al yelled, and Rai could have sworn she caught a note of desperation in Ed's voice just before there was a gunshot and Rai caught blood spurting from Scar's hand as Scar winced and covered the wound, pulling his hand away from Rai's head to do so.
"…The hell…?" Rai asked, blinking before she looked towards the direction the gunshot had come from, and her eyes widened when she saw the same kid she'd caught a glance of earlier, the one that had looked like her.
His appearance was somewhat similar to Rai, outside of the obvious-she was female, and he wasn't. His hair was a little shorter than Rai's and had been cut to appear more natural as opposed to it appearing like a proto-typical appearance of a military cut. He was wearing a basic and semi-tattered jacket that seemed to have been through much that caused its current state. He looked at her smiling a bit, as he lowered the gun and holstered. Surprised he had successfully hit Scar, he looked at her with his own eyes, which had a different color than Rai's hazel- they were a cold ice blue, reminiscent of their father, though neither knew it.
"What happened to you?" he asked as he placed his left hand in the pocket of his jeans, and walked over to them, smiling, his right hand hanging normally like it would if it wasn't resting. His shirt in converse was a basic T-shirt, and his shoes were semi-worn basic hiking boots.
Rai just blinked at him, pieces of automail scattered everywhere as he walked up, and Rai with a stump of a leg remaining but not bleeding at all, Ed with no arm and not bleeding either, and Al with a gaping hole in his side and no guts spilling out. It would look weird to anyone…
"….Long story," was all she said. "Right now, though, could you get him away from….Huh?"
Scar, who had tried to run away from them, had been stopped at the end of the alleyway, and Rai caught a glimpse of Mustang and Hawkeye past him and felt relieved, but there was a huge explosion soon after and all Rai could see was dust for a minute before she noticed there was a gaping hole in the ground and Scar had long vanished.
"Well… that answers that question." She looked what remained of her leg over. "Least it was just the automail and not the socket…"
The mysterious boy blinked. "Automail?"
"Yeah… fake metal limbs." She pointed around them. "…Obviously, now, it's in pieces."
Ed got up and went over to Al, Rai watching them from her spot, sitting a few feet away from Al. "You okay, Rai?"
"Other than missing my leg, which got blasted off by Scar, I'm fine," Rai replied.
Ed looked at Al. "Al, say something. Are you okay?"
Al punched him in response. "You idiot!"
"What's that for?" Ed yelled at him.
"Why didn't you run away when I told you to?" Al snapped back.
"Cause, steel for brains, then he would have killed you!"
"So you decided to die instead? That's really smart!"
"Don't call your older brother an idiot, idiot!"
Al grabbed Ed's jacket. "Look, that's not how we do things. Live, and be content while we can. Live so we can research in alchemy and get our bodies back. That is how we do things. Brother, dying, and dying by yourself, and leaving me alone? That's something I won't let you do."
Rai had smiled at the two, but the smile turned to a surprised look when Al's arm literally fell off, the two brothers watching it as well.
"Oh, this is perfect! Now my arm's fallen off too! Today is a terrible day!" Al yelled out.
Rai laughed despite herself, and she saw Ed smile at Al's little 'fit'.
"We're really falling apart at the seams, aren't we?" Ed said after a minute. "Everyone who sees us must think we're a joke."
"I don't," Rai interjected, making both of them look at her, and she pointed to her stump of a leg. "I'm falling apart too." She grinned a little at them, and Ed and Al laughed.
"True enough," Ed told her.
"But we're alive, right?" Al asked them both.
Rai nodded as Ed said, "Yeah… we are that, Al."
It was at that point Mustang walked over before crouching near the three of them. "Lightning, Fullmetal, are you okay?"
Rai nodded. "Yeah… he just destroyed mine and Ed's automail, and half of Al. I think we're okay."
Mustang chuckled. "Just be glad it wasn't your real limbs."
"I think we've lost enough pieces as it is, I don't think we need to lose any more," Rai retorted.
Mustang laughed. "True enough, Rai."
It was then Hawkeye ran over, and Mustang stood up before Hawkeye whispered something in his ear, to which His eyebrows rose and he walked over to where Armstrong was.
"…I don't think I'm gonna be able to get a hold of my mechanic…" Rai muttered after Mustang left.
"You could always see ours," Ed pointed out. "I told you Winry wouldn't mind fixing your automail too."
"I hope you're right…"
"When am I ever wrong?"
"Don't even get me started." She blinked and looked around. "Hey… where'd that guy who shot Scarfreak go?"
Ed blinked and looked around as well. "I dunno…"
"Maybe he just came over to see what the commotion was," Al suggested.
"I guess…" What unnerved Rai was how much like herself the boy had looked. It reminded her of Kino, yet not…
Marcoh walked up, and Ed blinked before saying, "Marcoh, don't!"
"I told you, kid, I can't go with you. Your hometown is never a place where I can ever be welcome," Marcoh replied.
Rai blinked as Ed asked, "Why not?"
"The two doctors that we executed in Ishbal…their names were Rockbell."
Ed looked shocked, Rai looking surprised, and she saw Ed turn to the side, towards Al, before Marcoh walked past, though Rai caught a glimpse of something white falling next to Ed and blinked.
"Let's go, sir," came a voice Rai could barely hear that sounded gentle, one Rai found she liked.
"Brother," Al said suddenly, "I think I just heard Mom's voice."
That was their mom's voice…? Heh… makes me wish I'd known my own mother… Rai sighed slightly.
"Oh, c'mon, Al, you just had a brush with death," Ed retorted. "Don't go unstable on me now…"
Mustang walked over again. "Let's get you three back to Central. We'll decide from there."
Ninjagirl: Well, there's chapter 6 done! Now for review replies.
Thieving Alchemist: Mary Sueish? I tried like hell for Rai to NOT to be Mary Sueish. Not sure how she turned out that way. :/ But thanks. XD
I'mAterriblewriter: Thanks for reminding me, I put one in in the first chapter, if you wanted to know what she looked like. Also, it is Japanese… her name, Rai Kagerai, in Japanese literally means "Lightning Shadowlightning". I wanted her to have an unusual name, as well as one that fit her. And 'Rai' is definitely an unusual name for a girl. XD Also. Thanks for the review!
AyameRose: xD! I'm glad you think that way. You have no idea of the plans I have in store for Rai. I can assure you, though, it'll be very much unexpected. Also… You've seen all of Brotherhood? Don't spoil the ending for me. I wanna see it for myself. . XD Thanks for the review!
anonymous: Here's your update! xD Have fun. And, thanks for the review!
animaniac-123: OMG! Animaniacs! I loved that show! And yeah, I do too. XD And I already put Lust in there. Think you can figure out where? XD The others will show up soon. Also. Thanks for the review!
Nobody: Nobody, huh? Like Roxas? XD JK. Not sure if you get the joke anyway. . But thanks!
MCRDanime: Thanks! Here's a cookie. -hands cookie-
kasuki101: xDDD Thanks. I liked the nickname myself, and the story behind it is as funny as the nickname. XD I was already gonna put in a flashback on it. And, thanks for the review!
Thestormslayer: :D! –glomps- Yays! My lil bro! :O Anti-climactic, huh? It was the same way in the anime… so don't blame me. . And you really think so? I could imagine them faceplanting at that point… maybe I should add that in there. XD And thanks!
Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967: Thanks!
OMG. That's a lot of reviews. More than even what I got from my Yu-Gi-Oh!/Harry Potter story. -dances- I'm getting popular!
Well. Review peoples! Remember, the more reviews I get, the more I make a point to update faster!