I know, I know! I suck! I'm so sorry guys, really! But what can I say? I'm a really lazy updater! ^^' Please don't hate me! .
I guess you could call this chapter progression of sorts? Anyway, I've actually been working on a couple of other fics (which I haven't yet posted any of… XD) so hopefully you'll get to read those after I finish this one. If you want to subject yourselves to any more of my awful writing, that is! XD
Well, without further ado, I give you chapter 11! I hope you enjoy it folks! :D
Italics: Ed's flashbacks / peoples thoughts (Oh, and when Ed is thinking in his flashbacks, I'll keep it normal – not in italics. ^^)
Roy, Al and Winry made their way down the winding road away from the Rockbell house, Roy striding off purposefully, ahead of the two teenagers. As he walked, Roy scoured the landscape for any sign of Ed, desperately hoping to catch a flash of gold. He hadn't liked the look he'd been catching in Ed's eyes since he had woken up. Something wasn't right there. He didn't need his experiences from Ishbal to tell him that – though he had seen more than his fair share of men broken by things that they would rather not remember. Sure, Ed was a strong person, and he always seemed to bounce back, but there were only so many burdens the human soul could bear. And Ed had already shouldered more burden than men perhaps three times his age had. After all, every one had a breaking point, Ed included, and he just hadn't seemed the same since he had been found.
No, there definitely wasn't something right, and he would rather find Ed sooner than later. But where would they look? The kid could be virtually anywhere!
Irritated by his current state of uselessness, Roy twisted his head to frown at Winry and Al, who had come to a stop at the fork in the road, which Roy had simply ignored.
"Hurry it up you two, we're never going to find Fullmetal at this rate." He shot back at them. Winry arched an eyebrow.
"Charging off in any random direction is going to get us nowhere, Mr. Mustang. You are currently headed down the road that takes us out of Risembool." She said, slightly amused at Roy's impatience. "I want to find him as quickly as you do, but we should at least have an idea of where we're going to start looking." Roy flushed slightly.
"Sorry," he mumbled, striding back over to stand next to Al. Winry bit her lip absently and her eyes raked across the horizon.
"Though that's something I have no idea of. Where would he have gone?" Winry murmured, more to herself than anyone else. Roy breathed in deeply through his nose.
"He can't have gone too far in the state he's in. What places are nearby that Edward would go to?" he asked. Winry rubbed her forehead, frowning.
"Well, he could have gone into the village, I suppose. Though there's not much there that would keep him busy for this long." Suddenly Al, who had been quiet for a while now, raised his head.
"Mom," he breathed. Roy looked at him questioningly. "I've been thinking." He announced. Winry smirked.
"Care to tell us what about?" she teased. Al scowled at her before continuing.
"Brother doesn't hide things from me as well as he thinks he does. He's feeling guilty about something. I can tell. Back when my soul was still attached to the armour, he would always look at me the same way, and whenever we came home to you and Granny, Ed would go and visit Mom." Al bit his lip. "Brother still thinks it was all his fault about Mom, and about what happed to me too. He's always felt guilty about it, all these years. I guess he goes to visit her when the guilt gets too much for him." Winry stared at Al in shock. When had he gotten so intuitive? No. Al had always been so in touch with his brother's emotions, that was no surprise to her really. But how could she have missed something so important?
"When did you figure all this out Al?" she asked in wonder. Al blushed.
"Well, I hadn't really pieced it together until just now, but I knew Ed was feeling guilty about something new since he'd woken up. I'm still not sure what that is though." Al said, fresh worry blossoming across his features. Winry closed her eyes briefly, frowning.
"You and Ed have always dealt with so much – what could possibly have happened to him to make him feel this bad?" she said anxiously. Al shook his head.
"I don't know. What do you think he's been doing all this time at Mom's grave?" Al wondered. Dread settled in the pit of Roy's stomach.
"Come on," he said, "we'd better get to that graveyard and find Edward. Now." He finished darkly. Winry wordlessly took the lead, turning to head towards Risembool graveyard. Roy and Al followed silently, none of the group wanting to voice the dark concerns plaguing their thoughts.
***
His head hurt. That was the first thing that Ed noticed. That and the back of his neck.
The second thing he noticed was that his right side felt oddly empty. He tried to move his automail, but was met with an odd feeling of emptiness, and a weightlessness that shouldn't have been there. He tried to right his muddled thoughts as he assessed the rest of his body. His automail leg still seemed to be intact, but he couldn't be sure until he opened his eyes, and he wasn't going to do that until he was sure he was alone. A little tip he had picked up from being in the military: let your captors think you are unconscious as long as possible in order to determine your surroundings and gather information discreetly. Ed sighed mentally. He didn't think he'd ever be in a situation where he had to rely on military tricks.
'Oh well,' he thought. 'It's not the time to complain about that now…'Ed shifted slightly and bit his lip as a sharp pain shot down his neck. His head was really starting to throb, and he could feel something sticky and wet seeping down the side of his face. Other than that, the only other immediate problems he could detect were the fact that he was missing an arm, the distinct impression that his flesh arm was tied to something behind him, and that his feet seemed to be tied together. Despite the growing pain in his head and neck, Ed forced himself to lie limply as he slowly opened his eyes to the merest slits. He was immediately assaulted by a light which, even though dim, was too much for his eyes to handle, causing him to cuss mentally. After a few seconds his eyes adjusted enough to gain a fuzzy impression of the room through his slitted eyelids. His best guess was that he was still in the cave that he had been lured to, and after he was satisfied that he couldn't detect any movement, Ed cautiously slid his eyes fully open. Sure enough, the vaguely familiar cave came into focus around him, revealing that he was indeed alone. For now, anyway. He was currently sprawled painfully on his side, his arm bent awkwardly behind him.
Hissing softly, he painstakingly dragged himself upright, ignoring the twinge in his biological arm as he righted himself. It was still stretched uncomfortably out backwards, but it was less awkward when he was sitting up than when he was lying down. He stretched his legs, tied together at the ankles by a thick chain, out in front of him.
'Huh', Ed mused. 'Whatever happened to good old rope?' As he moved his legs, the chain bit into his flesh one, making him wince. Ed could taste blood, though whether it was dripping into his mouth from the wound on his head or whether it was actually inside his mouth was unclear to him. He breathed in deeply through his mouth, trying to clear his head. Gently, Ed lifted his head from his chest and let his eyes wander over the contents of the room. Not much had changed in the room, other than his perspective. The tables piled with chemical flasks and thick, alchemic texts were still there, and the complicated arrays and transmutation circles still littered the walls and floor. Crude torches were affixed to the walls casting a dim, insubstantial light over his surroundings leaving the majority of the chamber to fade into a heavy blackness. The largest transmutation circle he could see was drawn onto the floor nearby, but other than chalk drawings, the ground was empty. Ed started, straining at his chains as he stiffened suddenly. Where was the girl from before? The one that had looked so much like Nina would have? His eyes swept rapidly over the room once more. She was nowhere to be seen. Did that mean that the man had taken her? Done something to her? If he was tied up here like this, missing an arm, then what was to say that the girl wasn't in even worse of a situation? Ed swallowed, feeling slightly sick. He had to get out of these chains and find out what was going on.
Gritting his teeth, he twisted his neck to look back at his arm, ignoring the sharp pains that jabbed at his neck and back as he moved. His arm was chained to a horribly cliché, dungeon-like ring, which was attached to the cave wall.
"Heh," Ed chuckled dryly, wincing as the air scraped over his sore throat. "These guys really have no style. Couldn't they come up with something a little more original than chains, torches and creepy caves?" he muttered to himself. Slowly, Ed dragged himself backwards so that his back was against the wall and, therefore, closer to his restrained arm. A plan already forming in his mind, Ed used the small amount of leverage he had to manoeuvre himself into a kneeling position in order to gain a little more movement from his arm. He strained his arm towards his head, dipping his fingers into the fresh blood running down the side of his face before twisting again to get a better look at the wall that his arm was chained to. Ed smirked. This was too easy. Working quickly to keep the blood from drying out, he began to draw a basic transmutation circle onto the wall next to the ring. Once he was done, he grimaced at his work. The circle was fine, but he did not like to make a habit of drawing transmutation circles in blood. Ed pressed his hand to it, bending the alchemic current to his will. The familiar tendrils of blue light jumped across the wall and ring, crumbling the stone beneath them. Before more than four seconds had passed, Ed was scrambling painfully to his feet, his arm fully liberated from the chains, stumbling slightly from the head rush.
"Much better," he murmured softly as he ran a hand through his messy hair – which had incidentally fallen out of its ponytail at some point. As he stretched his sore muscles and tentatively touched at the nasty cut on his head, Ed scanned the room hopefully, trying to locate his missing automail. Of course, it was nowhere to be seen. There was no way, Ed mused, that he could ever get that lucky. Ed stood for a moment, paying only vague attention to the various aches and pains over his body, as he tried to come up with a decent plan of action. Still indecisive about what he should do, or where he should go now that he had freed himself, Ed wandered over to one of the many tables piled with alchemic texts and papers. Although he knew that he wasn't going to like what he found, Ed started to sift through the various books and papers. He figured he should at least verify what he already knew the man – and perhaps others – were doing with alchemy here. The books were every bit as taboo and complex as he had thought they would be – human chimeras, human transmutation and even soul binding. Most of the dark side of alchemy was collected in these books, and the circles scattered over the walls, floor and papers reflected it. Ed could recognise the makings of forbidden alchemy in a lot of them. Grimly, he moved away from the table. It was then that he heard footsteps in the darkness.
For about two seconds, Ed considered hiding. He quickly dismissed that thought, however, when he realised that there was not only limited places to hide, but also that there was no point, as he would probably be found quickly anyway. Plus he wanted to meet the bastard again anyway. Despite the fact that he had assaulted and imprisoned Ed, he was most likely doing unspeakable things with alchemy down there, which more than likely crossed into the realms of taboo, not only for alchemy, but for general humanity too. All in all, Ed was pissed – and arm or no arm, this guy was not going to have an easy captive on his hands.
Ed gritted his jaw and turned towards the sound of the footsteps, his eyes blazing angrily into the darkness. The steps definitely sounded human, and he was sure that the man would want to check on him for whatever reason. He hadn't lured Ed down here for nothing, after all.
Sure enough, the man from before shuffled into view, not really paying attention to his surroundings. His head was down as he made his way across the room. Ed put his one hand silently on his hip, waiting for the man to notice him. Eventually, the man raised his head and caught sight of Ed, standing ostentatiously in front of him. Ed was quite pleased with he reaction he got. The man's mouth fell open into an O shape and he stumbled backwards slightly, blinking furiously. Ed smirked.
"How did you get free?" he said, breathless from the shock. Ed rolled his eyes.
"I'm an alchemist, remember? And a good one, too. They don't call me a genius for no reason." Ed said conversationally, "Seriously though, you're a terrible kidnapper. I could have just run off by now and –" Ed stopped at the sight of the gleaming object stuffed under the mans arm.
"Hey! Is that my arm?" Ed said indignantly. The man, who still looked confused and slightly shocked, glanced down at the object briefly, before gaining his composure somewhat and turning his eyes back to Ed.
"Ah, yes. I need you now. You need to come and perform some alchemy for me, you should be more than qualified with your background in human alchemy… there's just this one stage I can't seem to get right." He said. Ed raised his eyebrow, regarding the man as though he were a lunatic – which he probably was.
"Oh, yeah. Sure. Whatever you need." He snorted sarcastically, shaking his head. The man narrowed his eyes.
"You seem to be forgetting that you are imprisoned here, Edward," Ed frowned at this, not liking the way he said his name, but let him continue.
"I don't know how you got out of your restraints, but I have your arm, and without it, you can't do any quick alchemy. At least not quick enough to combat this, anyway." He finished, drawing an ugly, square-nosed handgun from his pocket. Ed sighed and raised his arm in defeat. He had already run through most of the possible plans of action, and decided he was going to see exactly what form of depraved alchemy this lunatic was up to anyway. He probably could have overpowered the man, but he didn't really feel like dodging bullets. A bullet wound wouldn't help his situation any, and he still had to find that little girl before this man did something vile to her. He couldn't let this be Nina all over again.
"Who are you, anyway?" Ed snapped at him irritably as the nameless man jabbed the gun into his back, directing him into the darkness.
"Careful, Edward. I don't think I like your tone." The man said, clearly enjoying his power over him. Ed snorted. 'I definitely don't like your tone,' he thought insolently.
"But I suppose it is only polite to introduce myself. We'll be spending a lot of time together, after all." Ed shuddered involuntarily at this statement. Cold fingers of dread and suspicion began to take root in his stomach. He didn't like this one bit.
"You can call me Dr. Jocas Kine." He said.
"No thanks." Ed muttered glibly, earning himself a sharp jab in the back from the gun. After a few moments, Ed spoke again.
"I've never heard of you," Kine was leading him down a narrow passage that split off from the large chamber that he had just been in.
"No, I don't suppose you have," Kine said, somewhat darkly. Ed frowned into the darkness as they walked. The horribly familiar stale and unpleasant scent that had hung thickly in the air up until now was growing more pungent as they went further. It was seeping up his nose, filling his lungs and made him want to gag.
Gradually, the narrow passage opened up into another cave, this one much smaller than the previous. Though it was dimly lit, he could see all the walls of the cavern, and all the horrors it contained. The room was filled with cages; much like any other chimera lab Ed had been to, usually on military business, but the chimeras in these cages were unlike any he had ever seen.
The piteous howls that tore from the warped vocal chords of the creatures in the cages - animalistic, but with a disturbingly human range – seemed to press on his eyes and ears, resonating inside his skull and making him dizzy.
And then there was the smell.
The thick oppressive odour that had followed him through the cave was even more concentrated here than anywhere else. He could finally place the scent.
It had been there when he had fought the Homunculi in lab 5.
It had been there when he had found poor Nina in the basement with Tucker.
And it had been there when that pitiful, horrifying creature – for it could not be called his mother – had lain wheezing and bleeding and pulsing on the floor, with his brother staring at him through its ruined eyes.
It was the smell of darkness, despair, and of death.
Rotting flesh and souls that didn't fit the bodies, screaming out at the wrongness of it all. Ed staggered as the strength of his forcibly repressed memories and the nauseating sights, sounds and smell culminated into a pressure that was too much to handle. He gasped as oxygen eluded him momentarily, and planted his feet firmly, despite the gun in his back.
"What's the matter? I thought this kind of thing was commonplace for military dogs." Kine said, mildly. Ed was too messed up to give his usual sharp-witted reply, and too busy focusing on merely staying upright. His head was aching more than ever, and the unwelcome familiar smell combined with the din of the chimeras was making him more than a little nauseous.
Ed pitched suddenly to one side, barely noticing Kine cocking the gun in alarm. He then proceeded to vomit close to – but woefully not on top of – Kine's shoes. After a couple more dry heaves, Ed staggered shakily back to his feet, wiping his mouth. Glaring at Kine, he struggled to form the words that could tell this man how sick he was. How much Ed already hated him for what he had done to these people.
"This is disgusting. This isn't just a taboo in alchemy; it's a sin against nature. You're playing God, Kine, and you mark my words, you will burn for it." Kine blinked, the corners of his mouth twisting upwards into an unpleasant smile.
"Oh, how the worm talks!" Kine spat. "This is more than a little hypocritical of you, Mr. Elric. I've heard the stories. You've played God, just like me. A dog of the military, of all things, will not judge me!" Ed shook his head in disgust. He had seen men of Kine's type before. Nothing Ed could think up to say would make any difference to Kine. He turned back to face away from him.
"Let's just get on with this," Ed snarled. Surprisingly, Kine obliged with nothing more than a jab in his back with the gun to get Ed moving.
Kine led him through the maze of cages, towards the back of the room where there was a large seemingly empty space. Empty except for the immense and meticulously detailed transmutation circle smothering the floor. Ed came to a halt in front of it, his feet just inches from the edge of the design, and sighed.
"I'm not going to pretend to be surprised to see this sort of thing here… Aw, what the heck. Wow. Very surprising." He rolled his head around to frown at Kine.
"But there is something I don't get. You clearly have more than enough knowledge on human transmutation – and trust me any knowledge on this is more enough knowledge – and your circles seem to be pretty accurate for whatever it is you're trying to do. So what do you need me for? What could I possibly know on this sick subject area that will get you whatever it is you want? And this is me just hoping that you want me for my alchemic skills, otherwise it leads me to ask how many other young men you've kidnapped and held at gunpoint. Maybe I should start worrying." Ed grimaced with his sarcastic closing. Kine ignored the comment. He gave Ed a long, considering look, as if he were trying to decide something. Ed drew himself up to his full height which, he noted with immense satisfaction, was at least 2 or 3 inches greater that his captors. Ed had only collected himself a little since being thrown off by the horrific chimeras, and Kine's next statement broke through his façade as though it were no more than paper.
"Very well. I wish to summon the Gates of Truth."
At that instance, everything crumbled inside him. The little colour in his drab surroundings appeared to leech away completely, and the air suddenly felt much thinner. His lungs seemed to stop working. In this single moment of sickening clarity, everything began to add up; Kine's mutterings: "…there's just this one stage I can't seem to get right…", the insane amount of failed human transmutations, the oddly structured circles scattered all over the caverns.
He had been down here, violating all the things that alchemy was supposed to stand for, all in an attempt to access the gate.
After Al had been restored, Ed thought he would never have to face that monstrosity again, and now this man – this sinful, callous, pathetic excuse for a man – wanted him to drag out something that nobody was ever meant to see? Something which contained such atrocious things that it surely must come from somewhere in the depths of hell - if indeed there was such a place.
The gate had taken so much from him, from Al. In fact, his arm and leg were still somewhere in there, drifting in that eerie white
Something in Ed snapped.
His head flicked up in order for his eyes to meet Kine's. The man blinked, stepping back from Ed. His auric eyes, normally such a rich, warm colour, were colder than they had ever been. Inexpressible anger and blunt resolution reflected back at Kine. When Ed spoke it was low, dangerously so, the sound of a man close to the edge.
"You don't even realise what you're asking of me, do you?"
Ed took a step forwards, and for a moment, Kine features flickered, showing the fear that should have been there the moment he had showed Edward the chimeras. He raised the gun threateningly.
"You've been keeping me here against my will, hell, usually that alone would be sufficient to piss me off enough to knock you about before handing you over to the military, but by asking this of me after showing me the unspeakable atrocities you have committed… you are walking a very thin line." He laughed humourlessly before continuing.
"If you know anything about me, it is that I am not known for my patience and good temper. I might still seem but a child to you, but I am not someone to play games with."
By now, a thousand different plans – tactics to escape, methods to take Kine down – had flown through his mind, all of them starting out more or less the same; getting back his arm. Without giving him time to react, Ed ducked low and snapped out his metal leg, knocking Kine's feet out from beneath him. As Ed had predicted, the gun went off, the shot echoing around the cave, but the bullet went wide, embedding itself somewhere in the ceiling in the blackness above them. Kine landed with a satisfying flumping sound, flat on his back, and as he had fallen, Ed's automail had been knocked from his grasp, landing a few feet from him. Snatching it ups as he ran, Ed left Kine struggling to right himself after his unsuspected fall and – fighting the urge to kick him as he passed – threw himself behind a table piled high with books. Once safely behind cover, Ed gritted his teeth. He knew he had to act fast, but he never enjoyed this part. Grimly, Ed positioned his recovered automail over the port in his shoulder, before taking a deep breath and – unable to stall any longer – shoving it back in.
Instantly, the blistering pain of his nerves re-connecting exploded in his shoulder. His whole body arched to compensate for its intensity, and Ed found himself biting back a scream as the pain spread excruciatingly across his torso. True to form, however, no sound left his lips, and after a few moments, the pain receded to a sharp ache in his shoulder port, flaring up whenever he moved.
Ed cursed under his breath. His co-ordination would be off for hours.
He wondered vaguely if Kine had seen which table he had dived behind.
"Edward? Where are you hiding Edward?"
Ed's lips twisted into a grim smile. Obviously not then.
Kine's shout echoed around the dark cave, ringing with a noticeable edge of desperation. Kine needed him. Or at least, Kine thought he needed him, and it was clear, Ed surmised mentally with a grimace, that he wouldn't let him go easily. After all, once Ed was free, he had the upper hand. There was no way Kine would be able to trap Ed like this again, and his escape would effectively end all of Kine's plans. Whatever the hell those were anyway. Though there were usually only a handful of things on someone's mind when their plans included summoning the gate.
Kine's shuffling footsteps sounded closer and closer, leaving Ed with few options but to carry out the most reckless, and secretly most preferable, route of action.
Okay, so here is another – admittedly long overdue – update! Haha, sorry guys, but I really have been ridiculously busy recently. ^^' Sorry I ended this chapter in such a crap place!
So, I'm aware that this story is really flawed. I'm not pleased with it; it needs a lot of work. To name a few things, the cliché plot, the continuity and the characterisations.
I know that Kine is a really unoriginal antagonist, and his way of talking is kind of rubbish. I read some of the stuff I've written back sometimes and find it really cringey… XD
In truth, I wrote the main body of this Fic when I was much younger, and have pretty much been editing it and rewriting parts as I go along.
Anyway, I will keep updating, and uploading new chapters, haha, I'm determined to see it through to the end!
Afterwards, I will definitely re-write it, and re-upload the whole thing, be until then; please continue to bear with my crappy writing! Ehehe!
Thank you for all your fantastic reviews, especially my regulars: you know who you are! ^^
You guys really help to get this lazy writer moving! :D
Anyway, you all know the drill: Reviews and criticisms are all loved! I'll really try to update again as soon as possible, so keep watching this space!
Thanks for reading!