Fullmetal Exorcist- Chapter 6- Sanctioned Secrets
"I was aware of my Innocence," Ed began. "When I was only eight years old. My brother had realized his power of Innocence also, and we tried to see how far Alchemic Innocence could go. It seems that Alchemic Innocence has its own limits. There is one thing Alchemic Innocence can never do, and this is ripping souls from the heavens and bringing them back to the Earth. No one can properly bring a person back from the dead."
Obviously Edward didn't like to talk about personal things. So instead we find out more about instead. And now the story of the deeper cause of the story begins…
A cloud of purple smoke appeared ominously before the gravestone of Trisha Elric. Two boys, one blond, the other dirty blond, was weeping as they kneeled in the fresh green grass of their local cemetery. They stopped crying and looked up at a tall, rather rotund figure, an ambiguous wide grin that could scare some and make others more calm. To show off his wideness, a big tan coat cloaked his entire body, like a longcoat. A lavender scarf was draped on his broad shoulders waving ominously in the wind. His oversized top hat towered about three feet, in conclusion.
"Who are you?" The older brother looked up, and the stranger smiled wider.
"Why, I'm the Millennium Earl~!" The fat man explained. "I hear that you've lost your dear mother… Is that so?"
The two boys nodded. "Why do you care?"
"Why? Because I'm here to make your dreams come true! Would you like me to bring your mother back?"
Ed hesitated… Should he just go through the trouble of having someone bring his mother back for him, or should he just do it with his own hands?
"Sorry," Ed frowned and got up. He had stopped crying. "I don't need you to help."
"Oh? Why not?" The Earl whined. "Isn't it much easier?"
"No." Ed firmly answered. "Come on, Al. Let's go home."
"R-Right… If you say so, Brother…"
"All right, then!" The Earl waved with a wet handkerchief. "I'll be here whenever you need me in case you change your mind!"
"Oh, give it a rest!" Ed didn't look back.
"The time when we first tried human transmutation," Ed said. "We didn't know what it was, but we were so scared, we stopped before we even finished it."
Al's eyes were downcast to the floor, and Lavi immediately understood just how bad the experience must have been.
"And after that," Ed continued. "We were scouted by the Black Order…"
"Almost done." Ed finished drawing the final portions of a large transmutation circle. Al gathered all the ingredients and placed them in a tin bathtub. After several more preparations, they were set to go.
"Ready, Al?" Ed asked. Al nodded, and they placed their hands on the circle.
The Circle then began to glow brightly, blue and green to be exact, but then it went wrong after that. A large eye opened in the middle of the circle and out of the ground came a metal rack. Purple dust began to shower upon the rack, bit by bit, clumping together to form a finger of a human, but the skin was far beyond brittle and too purple to be real. Ed released his hands from the circle, and so did Al, in horror, but the process continued.
In short time, a body was formed, but it was far too horrifying, the brother would have puked if they had no guts.
"Brother!" Al yelled. "That' not mother!"
"No!!!" Ed screamed. "You're right! But… how?"
"Edward…" A hoarse and harsh whisper came from mangled body… "How could you… Alphonse… Please… help… me…"
"NO!" Ed screamed. "You're not my mother! Go away!"
"Ed… ward…" the figure said again before the circle snapped back to normal, and the figure faded to the ingredients Al had set up before the transmutation. Ed and Al were staring blankly at the floor, their eyes quivering tremendously… Meanwhile, outside the window… The Earl watched with shocked eyes…
"My, My…" The Earl said quietly. "Looks like they really do need my help… Nah… he'll probably say no…"
---*--- A year later ---*---
"Ed!!" Pinako, an elderly woman she was tried to reach for Ed as the boy was dragged by the scruff of the neck and bound by strange cards portraying Oriental writings. Izumi was ready to pounce.
"Do not interfere," one of the men who were restraining Ed said. "This is the order of the Black Order. He must be brought before the Inspector for questioning. This boy has done deeds against the Order."
Al, who has roughly shoved into the closet by Ed earlier, began to cry softly as Pinako and the man argued about morality. He could hear Winry sobbing loudly before the men, who paid no attention to her.
"Don't you think that taking a child like this is irresponsible?!" Izumi's voice began to crack. "And I though you people from the Black Order were decent young men!"
"My apologies," another man said. "But these are our orders. I apologize for the inconvenience…"
"What inconvenience!?" Izumi shouted. "You're kidnapping! That's what it is!"
"Let's go," another man lost hope, and the purple robed figures began to leave.
"Ed!" Izumi as she attempted to run and take down the men down, but Pinako held her back. Even not in somewhat frail health, Izumi wouldn't stand a chance. The last one to leave heard Winry whimper.
"Please… Don't take Ed away from me… not Ed… he doesn't deserve to…"
And just as the man took Ed along, the Earl was watching again.
"So… he has paid his price for not listening to me~"
Ed lived a living hell after that. One would not need to describe how bad his torture had been once one sees his left leg and right arm missing from his body.
Marshall Roy Mustang, the other Marshalls, and Finder Riza Hawkeye were ambling down the hallways of Central, when they heard the most unusual noises over the hushed voices of secretaries. Having the sharpest ears out of all the marshalls, he probably was the only one who heard it. More like familiar, but unexpected. Screams… pleading screams for help…
"Roy!" Klaud Nine was going after him, followed by everyone else in the group.
Roy Mustang and Riza already turned on their heels and raced to the source of the sound, knocking into some other members of Central, who scolded the marshalls for knocking into them.
"My bad!" Hawkeye shouted as she attempted to dodge a stray cat that somehow managed to get in, but she nearly tripped.
They stopped again, and they tried to find the screams again. Yeegar panted. He wasn't much of a runner.
"Mustang…" He panted again. "Don't go off like that."
"I heard something," Roy said, frustrated that the screaming had gone again. "I swear, I heard it!"
"Maybe it was your imagination," Sokaro said lazily. "Central's haunted, right?"
"Sokar-"
As expected, the screams came back. This time, the corridor they were in was quite empty, so everyone heard it. Everyone looked at each other with panic and doubt. Roy then reached into his pockets, slipping on a pair of white gloves. Just in case. The other marshalls cringed at the sight of the gloves. Whenever the Flames of Wrath had his Innocence on, he really meant business.
"Here!" He pointed to an adjacent corridor and they hurried along.
After a moment of searching, Roy, sure that he had found the right room, looked at his Finder. She nodded and with brute strength, she kicked down the door with all her might. Apparently the hinges of the door were so delicate the just shattered upon impact. All the Generals stormed into the dark chamber and hurried down the flight of stairs.
"Why in the dungeons?" Tiedoll asked. "I thought they closed it off to everyone."
"Well, apparently not!" Roy answered, and they raced down as the screaming became much more louder.
"We're already a hundred feet underground," Yeegar panted slightly, his knees buckling under the weight. As much of an old man he was, he wasn't really the fittest of all of them.
"Come on," Tiedoll reassuringly helped Yeegar up, and they continued running.
"Leverrier… Don't make stuff up." Roy growled. Riza looked worriedly. This was supposed to be a conference for the Marshalls, but since Roy ran into a torture scene upon arrival, they had added it to the subject.
"What are you talking about?" Leverrier tried to keep quiet. Roy then became enraged. Apparently, Roy, unlike everyone else, was always let off for speaking out of turn, since he did it all the time, and his habit of doing so was uncontrollable. Just this time was an angry one.
"Don't play dumb with me!" He rose from his seat. "You know the Marshalls and I saw that child! You saw him yourself!"
Klaud Nyne rose from her seat as well. "Roy is correct. When I arrived here with everyone else, we all heard pleads for help underground. It came from a young boy with blond hair…. With only one arm and one leg…"
"Leverrier…" Roy growled. "You have gone, too far… If Cross were here-"
"If Cross were here, then what?" Leverrier said patiently. "He's only the same rank as you, he can't do anything.
The man with the toothbrush mustache kept his composure. "Yes… It seems Roy had not only saved the child, but however… he also blew up the dungeons. Had it not been a long distance from surface level, he could have killed many Central members. Well, that's not the case. He gave third-degree burns on two CROW members."
"What do you care about?!" Tiedoll jumped from his seat. "A child who could potentially be a valuable Exorcist, the type of people that can rarely be found!? Or CROW members that can be replaced by military soldiers?!"
"I second it!" Sokaro got up as well.
"I agree," Yeegar joined the standing Marshalls. "This is definitely child abuse. Worse enough, you even chopped off his arm and leg! Unacceptable! And you should be grateful that he managed to survive! He apparently has a strange Innocence no one ever heard of! He could an excellent addition to the Order in this Holy War!"
"Of course, a curious Innocence," Leverrier sneered. "But did you not know that this boy is the son of the Eastern Sage? We cannot have someone who can play God within our ranks."
"God or not," Roy frowned. "The Black Order needs as many Exorcists as possible, I don't think the concern is whether or not this boy has the Innocence that is much like God's."
"And I believe that Marian would say the same," Klaud added. "So it's a majority against you. We do not accept such practices."
Leverrier then gave a look of some potential triumph.
"All right, then," He began. "What do you plan to do with the boy, if you don't want him to stay with my CROW agents?"
A slight uneasiness fell, until Roy raised his hand, possibly the first time…
"I will take him in as my apprentice," He declared. "It's about time I start training someone."
"Mustang…" Riza muttered.
"But he's only got one leg," Leverrier sneered. "I doubt you'd find some use in him if he can't move."
Roy then crossed his arms.
"Well, then," Roy started. "I suggest I ask for funds from you to start a project for the Science Division of the Order to make prosthetic limbs for the boy."
"But who will you bring in?"
"I know just the people." Roy smirked. "The boy's relatives are very talented mechanics. I'm sure they'll be overjoyed to help him out."
Winry, who had managed to join the Science Division of the Black Order with flying colors, was quite proficient with a toolbox. She and her boss Reever had just finished developing a new structure: Automail. Based on her ideas of using electrical signals from a person's nerves to make actual body movements through direct contact, she managed to get Reever to do extra research, and here was the finished product. Her first customer, Edward Elric.
Of course, she had known him, since they lived in the same town since childhood, but she still remembered that day when a group of purple cloaked and masked men dragged Ed from her house. Of course, resentment grew, since right now she was working for these people, but she made herself believe that she was in the Order for Ed and Al's sake.
"Long time, no see, Win," Ed smiled weakly. She then playfully tapped him on the forehead with her wrench.
"You're going to be spitting blood. This might take a while to adjust…"
"Nah," Ed gave a defiant laugh. "I'll get better in two months."
"That's not… possible…"
"Nothing's impossible, right?" Winry couldn't help but nod under the pressure of his golden steely eyes.
"All right, then," She turned to her cocky attitude. "Just don't come crying to me if you lost half your blood. I won't be the one supplying IV for you!"
After three years of apprenticeship under Roy Mustang, Ed and Al flourished in their new type called Alchemic Innocence, as everyone agreed on calling it. They were roaming around when they arrived in Berlin, receiving a phone call from our favorite Supervisor.
"Hellooo~, Roy!"
"What is it, Komui," Roy grumbled. "You're going to make me mistake you for Hughes if you keep it up. And you didn't tell me anything about what's been going on back at headquarters… for five years!!"
"Sorry," Komui cleared his throat. "But Leverrier sent a letter to me and you. It says something about a promotion to Inspector… and that means… You! You're getting promoted~~~! So, he said that you can bring a couple people along, too!! You might want to include your two students…"
"I know that," Roy answered flatly. "When do I 'get into office?'"
"Dunno…" Komui drawled in a sing song voice. "Maybe next week?"
"Fine."
And there… the story began again…
Cornello cackled. "So you really are a heretic! That's just too- AGH!!!!?!!!"
Everyone, alarmed by the actions of the mad priest, turned their attention to the man.
"Oh no…" Lavi heard Ed mutter in worry. "This isn't good…"
The priest continued to twist on the floor, in agony, his hands clasped on his arm where the ring resided, screaming like a little child. Then he stopped immediately, his eyes quivering, his breath haggard as he rolled over on his back. Ed and Al gasped. He wasn't dead yet… was he?
"Cornello, proclaimed son of Leto," a voice just like Hevlaska's declared, and it echoed throughout the room. "You are no longer fit to be in use of the Innocence. You are now condemned to the outer realms. You are now, a Fallen One."
"NOOOO!!!!" Cornello found his voice and screamed as Ed and Al looked in horror. Lavi was just as shocked. A white body engulfed the man, and revealed itself to be a torso of a giant. The rest of the lower body was missing, the arms were missing, the head, missing, too. The strange 'body' glowed a sickly color of neon white, a white halo atop at the neck. Lavi stared in horror… This is what Allen and Lenalee saw that day… when Suman had become a Fallen One.
An earthquake ensued around the room, and Ryan and Rose were hanging to each other for support. The walls crashed down, and here they were, staring into the sunset. Ed then immediately grabbed Al and Lavi and dragged them behind a tall slab of concrete.
"Ryan! Rose!" He shouted. "Hurry! We don't have much time!"
"Y-Yes!" Ryan replied and he carried his fiancée bridal style for speed, when the Fallen Cornello lifted to the sky, a great many miles, and when all they could see was a tiny speck of him, it all happened.
A large bang in the sky reverberated around the valley, and gust of wind slammed upon the town. Luckily, The Exorcists and the couple were safe from the strength of concrete. A great display of light, caused a ring of fire to erupt in the purple hues of the heavens, as if it were a primitive form of fireworks.
"Ed…" Al whimpered in fear. "Could it be… that…"
"Yeah…" Ed looked downcast at the floor, as the wind finally stopped abruptly. "He's dead."
Lavi didn't help but lost his cheery composure to a traumatized one.
"But," Ed said firmly, stepping away from the concrete and staring at the center of the room that had been destroyed, leaving only the floor. "Look at what we have found."
They turned to where Ed had pointed out and gasped. Small crater stood, and there it was. The Innocence, resonating green and yellow sparks. Ed, Al, and Lavi approached the thing, and Rose and Ryan followed.
"This is Innocence?" they asked.
"Not really," Ed said plainly. "Innocence can vary. This is raw Innocence, meaning that it hasn't found a compatible user yet."
Ed's hair then stood on end. He whirled around, and saw the horror.
"Well, well," said the horror. "Seems like I hit the jackpot!"
"Akuma…" Lavi gasped. "But this time, millions of them…"
Indeed, it was a great many Akuma, but not as many as the time when he and his friends were on a trip to Japan to find Cross. Still, it was far too many. Ryan was speechless. "Rose… Rose?!"
They looked at the woman, whose stare was blank, as if she blocked herself from the world.
"Rose?!" Ryan shouted, shaking her furiously, but she didn't listen. Her hand absentmindedly reached for the Innocence in the small crater. Ed gasped as the green Innocence's glow turned steady, and it made a blast of green light around them once Rose's hand made contact with the green orb of energy.
"What's going on?!" Ryan shouted. Al then looked closely, and then turned to the man.
"Rose…" He explained. "She is synchronizing with the Innocence. The Innocence that Cornello had abandoned for a contract with the Millennium Earl is now agreeing with Rose's feelings. She is going to become an Exorcist."
A/N: Now that was kinda unexpected. I hated Cornello, so serves him right. Rose will get a bigger role, but she'll probably be like Miranda or something. Oh, and sorry, if you really wanted to see Al in action this time, but he'll show his stripes in a chapter after the Cornello Arc, when Komui unleashes Sir Komurin the Eleventh (I like the dub title of the robots, sounds funny, but subs are always better). Poor Allen... He's not really showing up any time soon, and Ed and everyone needs to find him fast before he goes crazy... Don't worry! We'll find you Allen! Just that we don't really know where just yet. I'm on complete writer's block for A Piano's Requiem, and my head keeps singing that new Reborn opening (the song's called Listen to the Stereo by Going Under Ground, i think).