Fullmetal Exorcist- Chapter 7- The Earl's Request
"Al!" Ed called out. "Keep watch on the people, kay?"
"Yeah," Lavi smiled, reaching for his trusty hammer and enlarging it to its true size. Ed and Al had drop their jaws for a moment. Did the weight of the hammer increase when the size increases?
Ed then clapped his hands again, with the familiar hum following, and he placed them on a plate of his arm. The blade then began to extend over his wrist and then his knuckles, until finally a foot away from his fingers if outstretched.
"Whoa…" Lavi muttered in awe. "You can do that, too?"
"No time for being amazed!" Al nagged at them. "Go!"
Lavi and Ed then rushed away, jumping up high to battle the fifty Akuma.
"Rose?" Ryan looked at her eyes, which were still staring blankly at the Innocence. Ed, Lavi, and Al watched in amazement, as the Innocence began to take shape, and then it crawled to Rose's hands.
Slowly draining away, it seemingly seeped through her hands like water, but nothing came out from under her open palms. Ryan looked in horror.
"What happened?" He asked Al, who was busy kicking away a rather puny Akuma that managed to get close.
"She must have absorbed the Innocence…" He answered, finally resolving to taking the remnants of Ed's staff and flinging one at a nearby Akuma, instantly killing it. "Her abilities will come out really soon."
"Really?" Rose had awakened from her trance, and Ryan turned his attention back to her.
"This Innocence…" She said quietly under the din. "It… somehow got to my head… I know all about now… but should I?"
"Your head?" Al said. "That's the behavior of Innocence. Hurry up and give it a try. Your Innocence should be able to tell you what to do, even if you don't know."
"Okay." Rose got to her feet, and she realized that Ed and Lavi's fighting wasn't enough. Several Akuma began to charge in a beeline at them, and she immediately closed her eyes. Ryan then gasped at what had happened.
The air turned cold, and around the three formed a vast sphere of blue liquid. The Akuma crashed into the walls of this sphere and disintegrated immediately. Al himself was amazed at Rose's abilities. He then tried to touch the shield she formed, and he let go.
"It's very much like water…" Al examined as he poked the walls, which seemed to bounce each time he did, just like gelatin when shaking the plate that held it.
"Whoa…" Ryan stared in amazement. He then looked at his fiancé who was standing firmly, and he got up and stood beside her, to give her confidence.
"Hey!" Ed yelled. "I don't think slashing or hitting them one by one is going to help!"
"Okay, then!" Lavi smiled, and he then landed at the ground at a clear place.
"Fire Seal! Hi Ban!"
A big Red Dragon rose from the ground and then engulfed the many Akuma in one sweep, while Ed finished with his sword stuck through the final Akuma.
"Good one!" Ed grinned at Lavi, who grinned back.
They looked back at the others. Lavi was quite alarmed by the blue sphere himself.
"W-Whoa…" Lavi's eyes bugged out. "Is it just me, or is today getting weirder by the minute?"
"Dunno…" Ed was shocked himself. "I've never seen an Innocence like that before."
"Well, Miranda has something like that…" Lavi rubbed his chin as a gesture of thinking. "But… I don't think it really destroys Akuma like that one."
"Wait," Ed stopped Lavi. "It's deactivating."
Indeed, the blue sphere dissolved into a small wisp of white mist. The mist then began to collect itself into a small blue pearly pendant and it floated down to its owner's hands. Rose was panting from having used her Innocence for the first time, and Ryan helping her to her feet. Al was waving to his brother and Lavi.
"Brother!! Lavi!!" Al yelled.
"Um… so that was her Innocence?" Lavi pointed at the couple, specifically Rose.
"Yeah." Al smiled. "It was really funny though. It destroys Akuma but it moves just like gelatin!"
"Well, that sounds amusing," Ed gave a bright smile, somewhat fascinated with Al's description. Lavi then raised a hand.
"Um… Ed?"
"Hm?" Ed asked. "What is it? You don't have to raise your hand to ask something, by the way. This isn't a schoolhouse."
"Um… uh…" Lavi sweatdropped. "How do we explain this to the people?"
"Huh?" Ed looked around, and all the townspeople were glaring daggers at them for destroying the temple. "Oh… right…"
"No worries," A kind voice appeared beside them. "I'll take care of them"
They turned around, and saw an elderly man with graying hair, he wore glasses, and in his hands he was holding a sketchbook.
"You know…" he said briskly. "You kinda ruined the model I was trying to draw… now there's a big gap in this sketch… Ah well… brings mystery to the viewer…"
"Marshall Tiedoll!!" Lavi exclaimed. The bushy haired artist smiled.
"Roy sent me to assist you, but I think the job is already done," He put the sketch book away. "Anyways, without a leader, I think the townspeople might need some reassurance. Thus, I came here with a purpose, after all, although Yeegar would have done a much cleaner job than I could have."
"Hm…" Lavi thought. "Was there anything else you saw when you came?"
"Well," Tiedoll considered. "Cornello was the Earl's contractor, so he had converted a quarter of the population of Lior into Akuma. Had you and Inspector Elric here had not noticed the contradictions, I'm sure you would have faced greater consequences. By the way, I believe there was a new accommodator."
"You all right, Rose?" Al helped the young woman across the disarrayed rubble.
"It's all right," Rose smiled, and Tiedoll looked at the charming young woman.
"My, my!" He said in surprise. "It seems that you are going to be joining the Order very soon, yes?"
Rose smiled in confusion. "Joining?…"
"Well, Exorcists are subjected to move to the Headquarters. It's a quite simple process really, no need for contracts or papers. Headquarters is technically an Exorcist's home. It's very nice, and not that bad…"
"T-Thank you… but," Rose frowned. "What about Ryan?"
"That is your decision," Tiedoll nodded. "As an Exorcist, you have the decision to choose who comes with you. That young man of yours is quite fit to be a Finder. That way, he can follow you during missions and assist you if necessary."
Rose nodded and rushed back to Ryan to tell of the news. The man nodded and he hugged Rose in comfort since she was quite unhappy with leaving Lior. Lavi, Ed, and Al watched on, and then turned to Tiedoll with deadpanned faces.
"So… how exactly are you really going to help these people?" Lavi asked, pointing to the crowd, who were apparently resorting to pitchforks and shouts.
"I said…" Tiedoll smiled. "I'll deal with it. You have a report to turn in."
"Whew!" Ed sighed. "Least our stuff wasn't destroyed."
Fortunately, the inn had remained intact, and the three boys were standing in their room for the last time, and they were almost ready to go. Al then looked at Lavi's arm.
"Lavi?" he asked. "Is that a bruise?"
"Oh, this?" Lavi pointed at the purple blotch on his right arm. "I think I got it when I rammed in a wall today. Don't worry, it's nothing."
"Well, can I heal it for you?" the younger Exorcist asked.
"There's no need to," Lavi smiled. "I think the infirmary back at Home will give me treatment."
Al then nodded in resign and trotted down the stairs to the front of the inn. Rose followed behind him with the third suitcase. "Here, now can you please wait for Ryan and me at the front door? I need to pack my bags as well."
"So you're coming?!" Al smiled brightly, and the woman nodded.
"Ryan had agreed to becoming a Finder," she explained. "We'll probably just get married soon, or we'll have to hold off engagement until this 'Holy War' of yours ends."
"Is that so…" Al looked downcast. "I'm sorry, Rose… I apologize for having to put you and your fiancé through this mess."
"It's nothing," Rose smiled warmly. "I'm sure my participation in the Order will be a great part in your cause."
"What about the inn?" Al asked. Rose then chuckled.
"We own the inn," she answered understandingly. "I will probably send a telly to my sister to come take over the inn. I'm sure she'll understand."
"Hey… Lavi…?" Ed's voice came up from the room above. "Why are you shaking the table? You don't have telekinesis, too, do you?"
"I wasn't shaking the table!" Lavi exclaimed. "I'm not even touching it! And I'm not a psychic!"
"Well, why is it shaking?!" Ed shouted. "There's no earthquake!"
Turns out, Ed was quite wrong. Immediately, the entire building gave a slight shift, and Rose and Al heard a loud thump on the floor upstairs, and Lavi gave a girly shriek. Ryan burst from his room and saw Rose and Al downstairs.
"Rose! Al!" He called out. "Stay there! I'll get the others!"
The house continued to rumble furiously, and Al and Rose had to hang onto the banisters of the stairs to stay put.
"Since when did earthquakes ever hit Lior?!" Ed was heard yelling. "My head's aching!"
"Well," Lavi shouted back. "You hit your head on the table that was shaking the first time!"
"Edward! Lavi! Hurry!" Ryan's voice rang out over the creaks and cracks of the earthquake, and more hurried footsteps resounded on the hollow floor. Ed, Lavi, and Ryan immediately raced down the stairs, about ready to burst through the door to go outside, but the house abruptly stopped shaking, causing Ed to fall flat on his face again, and Lavi to trip and fall right on top of him.
"Whew!" Lavi sighed. "That was a close one!"
"Excuse me!" Ed shouted in a choked voice. "What about me!?"
"Oh!?" Lavi looked down. "Oh! Sorry, Ed! It's just that you were a bit… um…"
Seeing Ed's dark aura rising in the tense atmosphere, Lavi's mind told him not to say anything more.
"What was that?" Rose asked. Ed got up to his feet, massaging his sore head, when he saw something on the floor that seemed out of place. An object, more like a card, or note, either one, he couldn't tell. He picked up the note, and then saw that it was actually an envelope. He then flipped the cover over and over again, and saw the address:
From: The Millennium Earl
To: Mister Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, and Lavi Bookman, Jr.
This is a note of great importance. Please open the contents.
"Ed…" Al stared in shock at what lay in Ed's fingers. "What is that?"
"Dunno…" Ed then gasped when the letter floated in mid-air, and then rearranged itself to form what looked like an envelope with partly opened slits as eyes, and the folds of the thin paper becoming a mouth. Everyone stared at it with different aspects, one horror, one fascinated, one shocked, another alarmed, and another… well… very blue in the face.
//Edward and Alphonse Elric and Lavi Bookman Jr.// the contradictory voice of the Millennium Earl began from the "lips" of the talking envelope. //I hear that little Allen Walker is not in today… And is Mustang on a little goose chase?//
Edward, Alphonse, and Lavi gasped.
"Why is the Millennium Earl here?!" Lavi growled. "And why does this envelope talk?"
//So,// the voice continued. //I'll play fair, since I wish to meet with Allen. If you do happen to have a chance to meet him, tell him I'll be waiting~ Signed, the Millennium Earl and the Noah Family.//
//Postscript,// a young girl's voice appeared. //Please find Allen really soon. I'm really bored… -Road Kamelot.//
As soon as the letter ended, the envelope began to tear itself to pieces, as if invisible hands were doing the job. Then the shredded paper floated softly to the floor and was set aflame upon contact with the wooden planks.
"That's… very… strange…" Ryan stuttered.
"Y-Yeah…" Lavi sweatdropped. "I never knew that letters can talk…"
Ed, however, palmed his face in frustration. His Master? On a goose chase?! What was going on?! Sheesh! His Master was an idiot after all!
"You're back!" Winry flung her arms around Ed's neck and pulled him into a tight hug. Ed stuttered incoherently and began to gasp for air.
"W-Winry?" Al asked. "You're kinda choking Ed a bit…"
"Oh?" Winry released Ed. "I'm sorry…"
Lavi smiled and looked at everyone else who came. Lenalee was beside Komui and Kanda (he probably didn't want to come). Marie and Chaoji waved with welcome. Miranda and Krory smiled warmly. Roy Mustang and Bookman smiled as well.
"So," Komui approached Rose and Ryan. "You are the new additions to the Order, am I correct?"
"Yes…" Ryan smiled. "I believe so…"
"Well, welcome!" Komui smiled and shook hands with the two. "We'll host a welcome party for you tonight! How much time? Five hours?! Oh my! Hurry! Reever! Fetch my coffee!!!"
"Who needs your coffee?! You need to finish the paperwork! It's starting become a mountain full again!"
Winry then looked at Ed's sleeveless arm…. And the very big dent in the automail.
"Ed…." Winry looked almost about to blow when Ed shrunk in fear.
"Winry… you didn't have to bash him senseless…" Lavi sweatdropped, seeing Ed lying unconscious on the bed. "He's not an Akuma."
"Well," Winry gave a huff of annoyance, grabbing an armor plate from the supply room. "He should be a bit more careful!"
"He's already living a dangerous life…" Al sweatdropped. "with you hitting his head every time he comes here… He's been losing brain cells… maybe that's why he's been starting slack off on the paperwork in his office at Central… Is he getting book dumb some time soon?"
Lavi snickered at Al's deduction, and Winry merely huffed again and began to fit the armor on Ed's arm.
"So… that's automail, right?" Lavi asked the blond mechanic. Apparently, Lavi had been learning quite a lot about Ed today.
"Yes," Winry explained, taking a screw from the toolbox (one of Ed's had fallen off during the battle). "Automail was designed by me and Captain Reever. Apparently, the first models we made were created to work specifically for Ed only. That is because Ed uses Alchemic Innocence, so Innocence is distributed throughout the entire body. Apparently, Ed seems to only be able to use Innocence through his arms, so what Reever and I did was use the signals given from his nerves, and Innocence, to make this mechanical arm move very much like a hand of human flesh. It took us a year to get the actual design right. Poor Ed, he had to be our little guinea pig."
"You did not want to see the look on his face every time we tried a new one on him," Al laughed.
"Well," Winry then continued. "Ever since I finished designing automail for Ed, I continued to update it, adding more metal elements to the alloys I use, and so it's much stronger. Also, I've finished a new type of automail, but it does not run on Innocence, but electrical nervous pulses. This is for non-Alchemic Exorcists who have missing limbs. The current project I'm working on is automail fingers, for Noise Marie. Had his fingers amputated during an Akuma fight. The problem is getting the most comfortable port to put on the fingers…"
Lavi was quite fascinated, and as Winry continued to other tangents, he was still interested. Then He and Al left to help everyone for the welcoming party, leaving the two alone for another half hour. Ed woke up later and he retold all that happened on the mission to Winry, who listened and fixed Ed's automail at the same time.
"Hey, Winry…"
"Hm? What's up, Ed?" The mechanic then looked at the plate where Ed dented.
"That Cornello guy…" He began to contemplate. "He didn't become a Fallen One until we confirmed so… why didn't he transform before when he already began exploiting the people? He did turn a bunch of people into Akuma, right? That's against the principles of Innocence."
"Good question…" Winry paused on her work, and looked at Ed, who was resting on the spare couch she had in the lab. "Maybe… the Innocence was misled. It wasn't his, after all… It was actually Rose's."
"But how come it was part of him earlier?" Ed said back. "Then it was fully compatible with Rose later?"
"Well…" Winry began. "Maybe… the Innocence was not judging correctly. You know, even though I'm not religious… but perhaps it was wrong for once? Maybe it needs the judgments of both itself and the people…"
"Heh," Ed smiled. "You may be right…"
"Now," Winry said evilly. "May you please tell me HOW exactly you got this plate on your arm dented? In full detail?"
Ed then paled. Oh, he was so dead… again… "Yeah… about that…"
"Ugh…" Ed groaned. "I think I'll be brain dead when I'm only twenty…"
But he shook the thought away and returned to his original objective. He then stormed his way from the laboratory to the office of the Supervisor. He waited for a moment outside the door, seeing if Komui were in there or not. Apparently not. Okay, then.
With all his might, he kicked open the door and barged in. Roy, Al, and Lavi were standing in the middle of the room, apparently facing him in wait.
"I was expecting, you, Fullmetal." Roy frowned. "Just don't do that again, understood?"
Ed ignored the question, and he looked at Al, mentally asking if his brother had asked about "it." Al then nodded.
"Well," Ed crossed his arms. "I believe you were supposed to tell us why the Earl decided to give us a little love letter about finding Allen Walker."
Luckily, no golems were present, so Ed was free to speak of the name, hopefully.
"I was just about to explain." Roy answered.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Ed said to his Master in a low voice. "If you keep it up, this is a really bad relationship between master and student…"
"I know that," Roy sighed. "Now will you let me explain?"
Ed's grunt of approval prompted Mustang to begin his explanation for the search of Allen Walker. Lavi was quite shocked.
"So why can't you ask Central?" Lavi asked. "Wouldn't they know?"
"Apparently, they can't tell me," Roy despaired. "My subordinates always ask themselves to get information, but apparently, Leverrier knew that I was going to look for Walker. He shut me out of information gatherings, so he'll put me on a goose chase. Seems like he does not want me to find Walker, and I'm sure I know why. You know what a heretic interrogation is like, right?"
"Heard of them," Lavi sighed. "They sound horrible, the methods people use on the heretics…"
"Well, I had to experience all that first hand," Ed raised and hand in boredom. "That's how I lost my arm and leg…"
Roy then looked downcast. "Considering what information I have found from asking people around the Order. We have quite a narrow time limit. For me to let this case off for over five months is beyond acceptable. Allen Walker will not last for long, if Leverrier's in charge of the trial. Besides, I don't think Leverrier wants to kill him either. Probably break him and put him to other uses. I don't want Cross's students to go through what my students have been in."
"Cross…" Lavi mentioned. "He's dead, isn't he?"
Roy looked up in triumph, but directing to Ed to keep quiet about something. "Who knows?"
Ed then snorted in annoyance.
"Well," Ed declared. "I say you let the three of us in on this case. It'll take a whole load off you and Bookman's shoulders, and finding info will be faster."
"Edward…" Roy said sternly. "You do understand that this will possibly bring up your own background with the Order."
"I know that!" Ed growled. "But… I know Allen Walker! I've met him! Before! When I was still your student!"
Lavi looked alarmed at Ed's statement. Al, who had been silent the whole time, allowed Ed to speak for him as well.
"I understand how much you want to save your friend, Fullmetal," Roy said with a fatherly tone. "But it risks your life, and I don't want that. Neither does Hawkeye, Hughes, or any of the team, wants that."
"Please… Master…" Al spoke up. "It's the best we could do…"
Roy then contemplated, and the three looked on with anticipation. Roy then gave a small nod.
"WELCOME! RYAN AND ROSE! WELCOME TO THE ORDER!"
The two newcomers were showered with confetti, and everyone helped themselves to a wide array of foods and drinks. Ed, Al, and Lavi, of course, talked frequently about the latest book they found in the library. Kanda stood beside the trio, listening, but really only standing around. He didn't have much to do. Bookman and Mustang, along with Komui were deep conversation again. Miranda and Krory were helping Timothy reach a table of cake he couldn't get himself. Reever, and all the scientists then proposed a toast in honor of Rose, Ryan, and small hint of a certain beansprout (very subtle, though, so no CROW could tell what they meant). Festivities were very elaborate, yet fun, in true meaning.
Lenalee Lee, however, was quite silent as she racked her brain of any way possible to remember the name of that strange boy that continued to appear in her dreams. She walked aimlessly about the party, talking with others once in a while, but her mind was set on remembering. If she could only remember…
A/N: Done with the Cornello Arc! I decided that since this week may be Spring Break for some people (too bad mine ended already) this is a present for you! Spring Break can be pretty chaotic for me, since I went hiking for about 4 miles one day, and then the next day, I was walking my feet sore all over Las Vegas... My feet still hurt, but hey! I can still type, since my hands still work! And let's see! I had a question about whether or not this will be related will be related to Brotherhood or the original FMA series. To be truthful, I'm mixing them both together, so characters from the original series and from Brotherhood will be present. Not all of the characters will be present, especially not the Homunculus (the exorcists have a thirteen-person noah family to take care of already!), but I think I'll let Envy slide in somehow... Poor Lenalee... Even Timcampy can't help her... she probably feels like Kanda when he got flashbacks of his past... I read the latest chapter of DGM, and it was so sad... And I'm surprised that Kanda has actually an emotional side, like Allen, but still... so sad... I also began doodling these little sketches of the characters here, so I should scan them on and photoshop them to perfection and then put it up on Deviantart. As for a tiny spoiler... There is going to be a very very surprising pairing coming up really soon... cookies for who can guess the couple!
Next Chapter: Sir Komurin the Eleventh appears! Kanda, Lenalee, Alphonse, Ed, and Lavi go to Paris during break, and they run into deep trouble when a mysterious person begins to follow Lenalee and Alphonse. Not only that, Komui and Reever show up, to add into the mess. Just what's going on?!
And yes, for those who are wondering, I based the scene where the Earl gives his special letter to the boys on Harry Potter's Howlers (Just that this one is a lot less scarier than the one poor Ron Weasley got from his mom for crashing the Magic Flying Car). I don't own Harry Potter, either, btw.
Oh! And did anyone see the new (and final) opening for FMA Brotherhood? The song is really nice, and the scenes are so sad (since everyone, even Bradley! was crying). And for those who don't what the terrible thing that happened to Roy Mustang, I can't really tell you, since that will completely spoil the story. I can't believe FMA might be almost over already. It's soo awesome... But ah well, that's what Fanfiction's for, right? We can continue the story.