DISCLAIMER: Ed Elric, Lust, Envy, Number 48 (Slicer the Homicide), etc. © Hiromu Arakawa / Marina © author.

Key:

Normal text - speaking/narration

Italics - thoughts

Ch 19: The Great Defector

Long, sharp, metal spikes protruded from the ceiling, hung for a second............and fell. "AH!!" Ed barely avoided them by leaping––and falling––to where he first landed. "That was fast!" As he was about to get up, his left hand pressed on another square stone tile. This time, an enormous axe hidden in the wall revealed itself to the blond by attempting to slice him in half. "AHH!!!" While dodging the Giant Axe of Doom, Ed let off yet another trap. Metal darts were then shot at the alchemist, and he barely escaped a pit full of spikes shortly thereafter.

Ed climbed out of the hole and chuckled. "For them to go to all this trouble, they must have something here they really don't want to be seen. I'm getting excited; I just love being right!" He accidentally pressed one more stone slab and his eyes widened in apprehension. What now?! A distant rumbling could be heard and the blond slowly turned around, fearing for his life. The rumbling got louder as whatever was making it got closer. Ed stood up, ready for anything. Suddenly, a colossal stone sphere rolled into view.

"AHHHHH!!!!!" Ed ran like mad down the unfortunately straight hallway, but the boulder gained on him bit by bit. "You know, this rock is sure persistent!" He accidentally tripped on a rock that lay conveniently in the middle of the corridor, and rolled to the side, pressing his body against the wall. The giant ball rolled right by. Once it had passed, Ed was grateful for his small stature. "See? And all this time I thought being normal-sized would be a good thing. Dammit, enough is enough!" He clapped his hands together and the trap-filled hallway was transformed into a simple, concrete corridor.

"Fullmetal Boy!" The woman in the green dress appeared behind Ed and approached him.

Ed quickly turned around, immediately on guard. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"You can call me Lust. We can talk about what I want on the way." The woman known as Lust began to run down the long hall. She stopped when she noticed that the short teen wasn't following. "Come on! Your girlfriend is going to get it if you don't hurry up!"

Ed then sprinted after the homunculus. "I thought you said she wasn't going to be hurt!"

"Yeah, well............Envy does his own thing, so I couldn't really get him to promise me anything. It's my fault. I'm sorry." Lust apologized.

"So……….why are you helping me?"

"Long story short; Dante, the person I work for, is a bitch. She says she's going to make us homunculi human if we get her the Philosopher's Stone, but I know that's bull."

"And you're hoping I'll make you human if I get the philosopher's stone?"

"I'm willing to take that chance, yes." They arrived a locked door, which didn't last long thanks to Lust's sharp nails. Entering the room, they found me pinned between Envy and the floor, my shirt hanging off my shoulders and my hair disheveled. I was breathing heavily, and Envy had a sadistic look on his face.

"Hey Lust, I thought the fullmetal bean couldn't find his way her––" Envy got off me and turned around. "Well well, what do we have here? A traitor, huh?"

I used this distraction to run to Ed, who covered me with his red coat. "Are you OK?" I shook my head, buried my head in Ed's chest, and hugged him as if I was afraid he was going to disappear. He hugged me back for a moment then stepped in front of me protectively. Lust extended her nails into deadly spears, walked up to Envy, and held him at nail-point.

She told Ed, "I'll deal with this shape-shifter. You guys get out of here!"

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll catch up later." Ed nodded and ran out, pulling me along with him.

"Dante's not going to like this," Envy stated in a singsong voice.

"Like I care what that old bag thinks!" Lust swiped her hand to the left, decapitating Envy. His head re-grew and he chuckled.

"No matter how many times you do that, I'm not going to die. You know that."

"I don't care how many times I have to kill you. I'm just buying time." She cut through a column on her right, compromising the building's structure. Lab 5 started to shake and crumble.

Meanwhile, Ed and I were running around trying to find an exit. "We keep coming back to where we started!"

"Let's try going left then." Going left took us into a large room with a giant, complicated transmutation circle drawn on the floor.

"What the heck is this? Could it be what's used to transmute philosopher's stones?"

"Precisely. I don't know who you are, but I'm amazed you figured that out by just looking at the transmutation circle, boy." A suit of armor brandishing a sword approached us out of the shadows.

Ed glared. "Who are you, old man?"

"My duty is to guard this area. I suppose I'll introduce myself as Number 48. And I'm not an old man either. I've been instructed to eliminate any outsiders who have infiltrated the building. Don't think badly of me, boy."

"Same goes for you." The blond created a blade out of his auto-mail arm with alchemy. "Don't take it too badly when you get beaten by a boy."

"An alchemist huh? Let's see how good you are." Number 48 materialized in front of Ed, crossing a good amount of distance in an instant. Ed's eyes widened and he ducked, avoiding a deadly swing of 48's blade.

The watchman charged and swung again. Sparks flew as his sword came in contact with Ed's auto-mail. The alchemist fended him off and lunged, side-kicking 48 back while dodging another lethal swing of his sword. I saw a light bulb appear over Ed's head. "Oi, oi, oi! Do you not have a body in there?"

"I'm amazed you noticed." Did someone press the pause button on this fight? I wondered.

"I spar with someone like you all the time."

"Ah, so there's someone in this state in the outside world too, eh? Let me introduce myself again. 48 was my death row number. When I still had my body, I was called Slicer the Homicide."

"Death row, just as I thought. Hey, this place makes philosopher's stones out of criminals on death row, right?"

"That I cannot answer. I was simply hired for my skills, given this body, and stationed here as a watchdog."

"Which means there's a seal somewhere that mediates the soul and the armor."

"Precisely." 48 lifted his helmet to show Ed a blood seal on the back. "This seal of blood........If you destroy it, you win."

Yes, someone *coughjashin-samacough* decided to press the pause button. Ah well. "You're awfully kind to let us in on your weakness!" I hollered.

"I'm the type that seeks thrills in fighting."

"Since you're so kind, want to let us off the hook? Was that worth a try?" Ed asked with a sly expression on his face.

48 put his helmet back on and gripped his sword tightly. "Do you really think a murderer is just going to let his prey get away?"

I can't write fight scenes to save my life. ^^; I hope they're at least somewhat acceptable?