Beyond the Nightmare of Life

Chapter Ten - The Hidden Truth

As Edward, Winry, and Sieza stood in front of the Nightmare House they noticed that things were extremely quiet and dark. Sure, to Edward the forest had been like this ever since he arrived in Kalahari, but to Sieza it was more terrifying than before. The leaves of the trees swayed in the weak wind. The moon seemed to give them a little light, but since it was a full and deep orange moon, it made all three of them feel like they were in a horror film.

"So, could you remind me what we're going to do?" Winry asked, huddled closely to Ed.

"We're going to investigate around the Nightmare House again. I'm pretty sure we can find someth-!"

Sieza suddenly stopped, her eyes filling with fear. Edward and Winry turned to her, then followed her eyes to see what she was glaring at. In front of them was a figure. He had long, silver hair that seemed to be very spiky but flat at the top of his head. His skin was extremely pale while the leather brown trench coat helped at least look like he was alive. But his eyes, they were blood-red. Full of evil and murder, and as soon as Edward saw him panic washed all over him. But with that panic, formed sadness of his brother and the Colonel, and then anger towards the man who killed them.

And this man was right in front of them.

"F-Fukai." Edward hissed, he clapped his hands and transformed his blade. Winry gasped but she stopped when Edward pushed her behind him.

"Hello Edward Elric, it seems that you survived after all...and what a pity. Here I thought I could come home in peace before leaving Amestris."

"Why! Why did you kill them?! I..." Edward couldn't speak. He swallowed back his words as sweat poured down his face.

"I wanted to kill you all. But sadly, it seems that I didn't finish the job. I framed you to simply make it look like you lost your mind. You snapped and killed your brother and commanding officer, then committed suicide. I was actually here to drop off your dying message now~!" he snickered.

"You, I'm going to make you pay. I know...I hate to kill but you...I want your blood everywhere! Just like you did to the Colonel and Alphonse. I will kill you!"

Fukai snickered once again, this time he was louder. He suddenly moved his hands towards his pockets and quickly shot draggers toward the trio. Edward reacted fast and built a small dirt wall to block the shots. Red lightning sparked from Fukai's hands. "Well, they don't call me the Red Dagger Alchemist for nothing now do they."

"R-Red Dagger?" Sieza stuttered.

"Sieza, take Winry and go!"

"No Edward! I won't lose you too!" Winry cried.

Fukai laughed, "Aw how sweet. Love birds! Too bad you'll never be able to advance your pathetic relationship! Because you can all die here now together!" he shot more daggers at them. But this time Edward charged in and deflected them. He shot in the air and slammed down his blade, but Fukai caught his attack with two of his daggers. His red lightning sparked around them. It actually made Edward's skin tingle then turn into a sharp pain.

"It's too bad that my plan failed..." Fukai hissed.

"W-What do you mean?" Edward yelled.

Fukai smiled, frustrating Ed even more.

"Damn it! TELL ME!"

"It's not like anyone will believe you anyway if you're caught but..."

The truth that came from his lips shocked Edward, causing him to loosen his attack. Fukai twirled around and struck him in his shoulder. Blood splattered on the ground. But Edward was too much in shock to feel pain. He stumbled back and fell to his knee. Tears fell from his eyes and he lowered his head.

"That's right. You would think that though...seeing how you saw their bodies slaughtered and all. But damn, they looked very convincing didn't they."

"Edward!" Winry cried, she pushed off of Sieza who was holding her back. That was when Winry threw herself over Edward, who wasn't moving. His body was trembling, but she just couldn't understand why. What was it that Fukai had told him?!

"W-where are they?" Ed spoke. His voice...it didn't even sound like his. It was low and raspy.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Now if you play a good boy maybe we can come up with a trade-off. What do you say?"

"What is he talking about Edward?" Sieza called, running up to them.

Edward didn't respond to Sieza, but to Fukai instead "What trade off?"

"I want Military secrets. They should be at the police station. Believe it or not there is a secret room underground and directly below the station. There is a file room that gives details on everything. I presume you know what the Philosopher's stone is correct? But that's not really the secret I want. There are defense system secrets and files on people who changed Alchemy forever. They thought it was the perfect place to hide their files but they're all fools. Retrieve the files for me...and then we can make a fair trade. Equivalent Exchange."

And he said nothing more. He turned his back on the trio and left, leaving the his letter at Edward's feet. Sieza and Winry watched him leave, but Sieza decided to read the letter...

I have nothing left. I am ending my life...there is nothing left...I've lost my mind...I will die soon...by my own hand...

"Edward, what did he say? What did he say?! What is it about this trade about!" Winry cried.

Edward slowly rose his head, tears falling from his face. Winry thought that she would never see him cry...this wasn't like him at all.

"Al...and the Colonel...their alive."

And the truth comes out! So what do you guys think?! Can you believe that they're alive?! All will be explained next chapter! This really is turning out to be a complete Nightmare for everyone huh? Or is it beyond the nightmare?! XD Welp, time to answer some reviews~!

cutiepie120048: Don't worry! No plot changes will be made to the story! XD I'm just correcting misspelled words and bad grammar. If anything I might add filler chapters just for fun.

HaganeNoWriter: Thank you very much! :)

Lazy Guest: Thanks! I know not everyone can read it when it comes out! So its no problem! XD

Well, until then...on a side note I'm dreading that summer is almost over. I go back on August 13th...but its senior year for me~! :D

To Be Continued...

Kok0roxGuardian