Demons Only One

Chapter 3: Field of Innocence

Regrets. Pain. Anguish. Stupidity. Uncertainty. Mistakes. More regrets. He didn't want to make another mistake. He didn't want to regret anymore, but with his past, it was impossible. If only he had the knowledge now back when he was a child, he would never have tried to bring back mother, the catalyst that initiated this path paved with blood and tears of a millennium. Maybe then, he never would have been corrupted when he fell through to this world, destroying countless lives when he had not been in control of his mind. If it hadn't been for Al, he might have continued to leave his mind turned off with no restraining chains he liked to call responsibility and guilt, or maybe he had allowed his mind to be turned off when he passed through the gate? He was so tired of living only to sin, building upon the original sin that cast him from childish paradise into perdition.

Fullmetal sat in the middle of a large room, pondering the metal and chalk that lay before him with his head resting on his fist. It was too risky; he didn't want to screw up again when there was only one chance, but he couldn't think of anywhere where research materials would be available. It's not like this world had Alchemy books laying about that didn't have to do with silly things like turning lead into gold (which is entirely possible, but completely and stupidly dangerous involving high level alchemy and radiation, among other nasty side reactions). He sighed and poked the metal, trying to quell the feeling of impatience that was threatening to cloud his judgment. Behind him, he felt his 'shadow' shift. It seemed that Link had been ordered to continue to monitor the Noah and probably destroy said Noah if he proved a threat.

Maybe he should go to Munich? There wasn't much left, but he did have a small collection of his notes and other books squirreled away... As if they would let him go there, and anyway, he had everything memorized; it would be an unnecessary trip to retrieve them. Even if his notes were found by the other Noah or the Order, he highly doubted that anyone would understand them.

He rolled his eyes to himself and continued to ponder the situation when his stomach growled loudly in the otherwise silent room. He glared at it until it silenced itself and sighed; Ed had been avoiding the cafeteria as much as possible. It was just too awkward to be around the Order when they kept staring at him like he was their enemy, though he was no stranger to such hate, having been a State Alchemist, the self-proclaimed dog of the military. He was glad though; they cared so much for the boy that hating him was just too easy. It would make things uncomplicated in the future.

Now Allen. There was another problem. What should he do about him? While the arm would certainly be useful, the risks to the child himself were too great and made Edward hesitate in learning how to use the blasted arm. It didn't help that the arm itself seemed to be mocking him; the arm was so dark like all the blood of the people he had killed, directly or indirectly, were caked onto the hand and refused to be washed out, forever reminding him or his errors. He didn't know how Allen dealt with it. Probably the child was too clean compared to Edward's own soiled soul, though he was sure the child had his own fill of sins.

Fullmetal froze as he felt something lightly brush his mind. Scowling, he swore softly. He had awoken to the point that the other Noah were aware of his existence (it seemed that the Innocence that comprised Allen's right arm had muted the transformation, making it slower). It wouldn't be long before they started to look for him, and when they saw that they didn't have a new sibling, but that he was their turncoat of a brother, they would be sure to destroy him once and for all.

Still scowling, he stood up, unaware that Link wasn't the only one who watched him, but numerous others via the golems that hung from the corners of the room. "Dammit," he growled louder as he felt more try link to his mind, but he resolutely kept them out. "There's just no time." Turning, he stalked out of the room; he should probably warn the Order and then get out into the open air. He felt like a sitting duck in a large nest waiting for the falcon to swoop down and end his pathetic life.

Turning into another hall, he felt another presence in his mind, making him shiver slightly. He recognized this presence... It felt like the Gate. It oozed of power, and yet, it did not feel as powerful or sinister as the Gate.d

Hastily, Fullmetal turned, but only met a startled Link; he couldn't help but check that the Gate wasn't looming up behind him, threatening to take another limb for a tab that had yet to be paid. Irritated with his irrationality (the Gate never left debts unpaid, knowing firsthand its handiwork), he started to walk forward but stopped upon seeing his reflection in the window, where a clear blue sky was visible in stark contrast with his exhausted and haunted eyes.

He was a Noah, and Noah were Noah because they were humans from his world. The price they must have paid to cross the gate was their sanity, or something of the sort. Certainly, he himself had lost his mind for a certain time, and Al had never lost it because he had never actually crossed over.

Hohenheim never seemed to have lost it either... Maybe he had paid a different price or maybe the price was not something of the mind? Or maybe he had never truly been sane his whole life. Living for so long from body to body, it seemed entirely possible that his mind would also rot with his flesh. Then again, he never gave any indication of mental instability. He shook his head. Nothing made sense, but then nothing where the Gate was involved ever made any sense; it seemed to have a twisted mind of its own, toying with human lives like so many broken dolls.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment and then walked away from his reflection; whatever will come, will come. All he can do is weather the storm and hope that when the time was ripe, the seeds that he had planted would grow into fruition.

He turned down a hallway and stopped by a large wooden door that stood ajar. Inside, he knew, was Komui's office (Earlier, he had been given a limited tour of the Order by the annoying Inspector). Giving the room a cursory glance as he passed through, he couldn't help but feel himself stiffen with recognition. No way. No way in hell that bas - The blond stopped himself. Idiot, this wouldn't be the first time he had mistaken someone's identity for someone in his world. Still, it wouldn't hurt to confirm it, right?

Before he could interrogate the man, Komui appeared at the door of his office, carrying his signature mug. Kanda could be seen behind him, coolly glaring. "Fullmetal? What brings you here?"

Giving the familiar man who was busy poring over some papers a last look, he turned to face the Supervisor. "I need out of the Order. I don't care how. Send me on a mission if you want, but I can't stay here." The other man gave the younger a calculating look. "The Noah have become aware of my existence; it won't be long before they come looking for me. I would rather deal with them myself in my own way, and I don't want interference."

"Come in then. We'll figure out a place to send you." Komui's office was a disaster. It was a surprise that the Dark Order could even function with such a man as its supervisor. The small room seemed to have no carpet, though Edward was certain that the paper simply covered it completely up. The laziness reminded him of a certain distasteful Colonel - now General - who couldn't be trusted to do any real work other than intrigue unless a gun was pointed to his head. Komui could have probably used a similar treatment.

Behind the pile of papers (was there a desk under there?) was a large map of the world with multiple pins in it. At first, he only gave it a cursory glance, but something nagged him at the back of his mind. Ignoring the other occupants of the room (Kanda, Lavi, Lenalee, Krowly, among others), he walked up to the map. Though there were several colors, it was obvious that the black pins represented demon attacks and sightings; the red were probably Noah sightings. The rest he ignored as insignificant information. He was only focused on the overall shape, and the shape was strange; yet, it seemed familiar in a haunting and disturbing way.

Something clicked in Edward's mind: It couldn't be, could it? Did the Earl have the knowledge and the ability to activate a transmutation circle? A wave of nausea passed over him, and he paled at the thought. Quickly, he grasped at some of the paper around him and yanked a pencil that was half buried under other paper. Scribbling furiously, he had five different transmutation circles drawn and a sixth in the making when his brain caught up to him; he was assuming too many things.

First, he didn't even know if this was a transmutation circle. Second, he didn't know if the Earl was even done picking places to be the junctions of the transmutation. For all Ed knew, he was only getting started. Third, who would activate it since Ed was fairly certain that his version of Alchemy did not exist on this side of the gate. (He really didn't want to think about that one.) Fourth, was it even possible to do alchemy on this side of the gate? Ed knew that he could, but that seemed to be his 'ability' as a Noah. Fifth...

He couldn't think. This was too much, and his mind wouldn't stop spinning at the possibilities. He was certain, that even as a Noah, he had never explained such alchemy to anyone. It was too guarded of a secret for him to spill carelessly even when his mind had shut down. He also knew that no one else in this world, save Hohenheim, would have such knowledge, and Hohenheim was too careful in his dealings to let something slip. Still, the idea deeply disturbed Ed's psyche, and he couldn't discount the possibility that he had somehow blabbed or that the Earl had previous knowledge. Maybe the Earl was in fact from his wor-

Someone cleared his throat loudly behind Fullmetal, and he whipped around in response. "You want to share what you've been doing there?" A dry question full of suspicions.

"No." A dry response, full of secrets. He really couldn't help it; it was a triggered response of often being found researching something forbidden and not wanting the questioner to become too involved and end up losing his or her life, like Hughes.

He closed his eyes and let a small breath of air escape his lips, gathering his patience; he should explain, they deserved that much at least, and they could be useful in stopping the Earl's plans. "Actually," he grimaced and turned his attention back to the exorcists who had varying degrees of hate and disgust shown on their faces. "I can't be sure, but it's a possibility." He bit his lip and warily rubbed his eyes (God he was tired), trying to think of a way to explain that would make sense to them.

"What do you know of Alchemy? Wait, no, you're going to spout silly rubbish about turning iron to gold, which is possible, but illegal. Nevermind. In my world, Alchemy is more than that; it's a science, following set laws and equations. You can turn one thing into another so long as you follow the law of Equivalent Exchange - matter cannot be created or destroyed; it can only change forms.

"You can accomplish these 'transformations' by a transmutation circle, where the equations are laid out for whatever you are changing." While he explained, he drew another transmutation circle on another sheet of paper. Glancing at the room, he judged their responses, and sighed softly to himself: some seemed to be understanding the concept (the non-exorcists), some looked like they understood but probably didn't, and others were just plain confused, which was to be expected. What time did human weapons have for an education?

He activated the transmutation circle, and it sent out a flurry of blue lightening. Slowly, the paper warped and changed, finally settling on a paper crane. He heard some gasps and looked up; it seemed he had attracted the attention of the whole department who crowded around Komui's tiny door. "That's an example of a simple transmutation. I could change this sheet of paper into anything I wanted, but I can't turn it into a larger sheet of paper because of the law." He transmuted the paper into a paper cat. "With different materials, different results can be obtained, and with enough material, you can do some really dangerous things.

"Looking at the map, the areas of high demon sightings and battles resemble nodes of a transmutation circle. I think it's possible that the Earl is creating a transmutation circle large enough to span half the world. I just..." he clenched his fist and studied the map. "If he is making one, I can't tell what it's meant to accomplish. There are too many possibilities.... But there is one thing I can say; if this is really a transmutation circle, then the Earl plans to use human lives as part of the starting materials." He felt the room collectively freeze, and to himself, he muttered, eyes hardening, "And I can't allow that. I won't allow another repeat of Lior."

It had been decided that Kanda, Lavi, and Miranda would accompany Fullmetal to London, and Lenalee, Marie, and Krowly would go to Oslo. Both places had been labeled as areas of high demon sightings by the Finders with a high possibility of encountering a Noah. It had been arbitrary to send Fullmetal to London, but the fact that they were traveling by train suggested that they had decided to send him to the closer location so that he would not yet come across the Ark.

Currently, the Noah was staring out the train window at the passing scenery while incessantly tapping on a notebook he had procured from somewhere. ("Chief Reever! I can't find the pages to the report!") He seemed to be deep in thought, probably about the possible transmutation circle or whatever had occurred in Lior (Link had been close enough to hear; he wasn't so sure about the others). However, who knew what went on in their heads. If they were in fact human as he suggested, then maybe their minds were not so different, but their supernatural abilities suggested that they were not human at all, and so Link was skeptical at best. He often wondered how much that came out of the Noah's mouth were truth and how much were lies.

The tapping paused, before resuming a more erratic tempo, responding to some inner irritation of the Noah's. Link took note of it and noticed that he was not the only one; everyone in the cabin made some movement in response: Kanda opened an eye to glare before closing it again; Lavi had been openly staring since the trip began and probably noticed more than Link himself being the apprentice Bookman; and Miranda shifted uneasily in her seat. Needless to say, the air in the cabin was tense.

Time passed, and the cabin darkened with the setting of the sun. Miranda had fallen asleep, Kanda was still meditating or whatever it was he did with his eyes perpetually closed, and Lavi was still religiously focused on the Noah. Said Noah was still staring into space, though his eyes had certainly developed a more glazed look as the hours passed, and his tapping had long since stopped.

Allen had decided; he couldn't let the 14th control him like this. He needed to gain control of his body again, but even though he had decided this, gaining control again was another problem all together. He had tried passing through the mirror, realizing that his room in the Order represented his mind while the field on the other side of the mirror represented the Noah's. However, the mirror rejected him when he tried to push through. Even using his left arm did not work, push as he might.

Dejected, he had been sitting on his bed glaring at the offensive scenery trying to think of a way through. The only thing he could think of was that when the 14th came back to talk to him (he was certain that he would), he would attack and bring him down. The only problem was when. Time was certainly an issue. As Allen was still here and could still see the rolling hills, he assumed that his arm had not yet been removed. Did that mean that he would lose all sense of consciousness in the near future?

Through his musings, he became painfully aware how little he knew, having grown up with limited knowledge and education. Certainly, Mana had taught him how to read, among other things, but his education had not continued under General Cross, who merely used Allen as a means to pay his debts and fight the demons.

Yes, he would continue to fight until his last breath. He would fight the Noah, staking his mind on the outcome, and exorcise him. This was the only path open to the boy that involved moving forward, and he would never stop struggling until the day he died; he had swore to Mana.

::Omake:: (AKA the stupid things that happen when my brain runs too wild)

"Is it just me or does Fullmetal keep getting shorter and shorter?"

"I think so too, Chief."

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A TINY GNAT THAT YOU WOULDN'T EVEN KILL BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE IT?!?!?!?"

"…"

"We didn't say that…"

"Dammit! I must be reverting to my original height! Why does Allen have to be taller than me?!"

Notes: This is also a record for me. I've never updated a story so many times in such little time! That probably means I won't update for a year now… Heee…

In any case, thanks for all the reviews! Though, I have to say that there are a lot of reviews concerning Ed's "harsh" attitude. Well, deal with it. There is a reason, and when it wants to be revealed, it will reveal itself. (This story is out of my control and is writing itself. Worst of all, it won't let me sleep or accomplish any work).

As for the arm, I think the plot has decided for itself what to do about it; though the reviews helped much in stimulating the ideas. :D

I would also like to say this because I got pissed when I saw it. Please, please, please do not advertise in my reviews. I won't read it, and my mind blanks into an angry red which usually ends in the death of a story.

Nevertheless, I'm really glad that the story seems to be making you all think, as the reviews aren't filled with the usual gibberish of "OMFG PLEAS CNTUE!1!1111!! DIS STORIE IS AWSOME!!11!1!1!"

So keep them coming!

Chapter title is from Evanescence – Field of Innocence.

Now, review!