Yes, a new chapter a day early. This wasn't supposed to be posted until tommorow but I felt like I should post it now.
I think this might be a little sad to some people, not sad to others, that's the only warning I'm going to give you guys about this one.
As usual; I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters
Alphonse and Envy got to the surface in time to see Father fighting off against the military and the others from below. Even Ling, Lan Fan and Foo were there, which was good to know that they weren't dead because of Pride. They leapt up next to Hohenheim and glanced at him, waiting for a explanation.
Hohenheim glanced at them, probably wondering what is with their outfit and form, but started talking, "We're going to make him use up as much of his Philosophers Stone as we can," He said as he caused a few spikes to come out of the ground, which were blocked with Father making a wall, "I think we're making progress," He said.
They nodded, "We'll help then," they said as they ran to get closer to father and ripped a large broken piece of steel off the ground and hurled it at Father.
Father blocked it and looked at them with longing eyes, for their Stone.
"Hey, Father," Envy and Alphonse said, "Guess what? We kicked Prides ass, guess we're stronger than you thought," They bragged as they picked up a long pipe to use as a staff and lunged at Father. Each blow was blocked by Father's Alchemy, but the two were causing a distraction to him that was helping the others get a few hits on him.
Leaping back, their minds started formulating a plan.
"He can absorb our Stone," Envy said as they began circling Father and letting the Alchemists and soldiers attack him. Out of the corner of their eyes they saw Roy use his flame alchemy blindly, having Riza be his eyes.
"But that goes the same for us to his stone," Alphonse agreed as they took a step towards Father, their grip on the metal staff loosening until they dropped it.
"Let's go take his stone," Envy smirked as they lunged towards Father an slammed their fist into his face, knowing full well that he would try to take their stone.
As expected, their fist went through his head and he grinned.
"Envy! My son! I knew you would give me your stone," Father said pleasantly as Envy and Alphonse struggled and yelled, pretending to try and get their arm out of him.
But then they smirked, "Yeah, sorry about that, other way around," They explained as they started to absorb his Stone.
Fathers pleased look vanished into a look of anger as he tried to absorb their stone even harder now and then their smirk disappeared to.
It was now a fight over who had more will power. Both were trying to get the others stone and not have their own taken, it was a deadly risk that they had taken and now it was proving more difficult then they expected.
It didn't help when the attacks came up again and Father had to jump around to dodge, causing Envy and Alphonse to fly around a bit, since they were still connected to Father by a fist in his face.
"Dammit!" They yelled, they knew that they couldn't get his stone, the best they could hope for was to get a little of his stone.
When Father blocked an attack with his arm, the two knew it was time to let go.
Focusing hard, a difficult feat in their situation, they turned their free arm into a sword and sliced off the other arm, leaping a distance away and watching their arm regenerate as they turned their other back into an arm.
"He's used up to much souls in his stone!" They yelled as they watched the Eye of God appear in Fathers mouth as he dropped to his knees, the entity beyond the Gate was trying and almost succeeding in escaping.
A powerful explosion knocked everyone back, Envy and Alphonse had to dig their feet into tiny craters not to fly back with the others, but the force was amazing.
They watched as a Briggs soldier flew by them and out of instinct, they grabbed him by the arm to keep him from going any farther. The direction he was going in would have had him falling down the hole Father made, and there was no doubt that the soldier would die from the fall.
When the force knocking everyone backward died down, Envy and Al looked up in time to see Father lunging at them.
They didn't have any time to move, any time to dodge, before Father slammed his hand into their stomach.
"Your stone!" Father yelled out, "Give me your stone, Envy!"
Inside of the stone, every soul except for Al's was being sucked away, sucked into Father and out of Alphonse. The young Elric was clutching Envy tightly, trying to keep him from going back into Father and holding on to him with such determination. He had just lost his brother, he wasn't going to lose the homunculus that had become one of his best friends.
"Alphonse! You got to let go of me!" Envy yelled, his voice strained.
Al shook his head, "No! I'm not letting you go!" He argued, the souls in the stone were thinning out, Father had most of them but it still wasn't a lot of souls compared to how much he already had. They had used up most of the souls in their stone when they fought Pride and went into his stone.
If the situation wasn't so horrible, Envy and Alphonse would have agreed that it was amusing how both Father and Pride had tried to get their Stone in less then thirty minutes between.
But right now was not a time to be thinking about that and laughing. Envy knew that if Al didn't let go of him, he would be sucked into Father as well, and the homunculus wouldn't let that happen.
"Let go, dumbass!" Envy snarled, "You'll get dragged in with me!"
Alphonse didn't give up, "I'm not losing you too!" He argued.
"JUST LET GO!" Envy yelled at him, Alphonse needed to understand that it was useless! "My entire being, my core, it came from Father! The force that's pulling me to him is so much stronger then the force keeping me here! It's useless to try and fight it!"
"Then do what you always tell me! Tough it out!" Alphonse yelled then his eyes widened as he looked at his arm, "Oh no!" he said, his body was starting to deconstruct.
Gritting his teeth, Al ignored the agonizing pain, "I WONT LET GO!" He yelled.
A plan was formulating in his brain, how he could keep Alphonse from being absorbed by Father and also help Al defeat Father after Envy is absorbed. Suddenly it hit him.
He looked at Alphonse, "Fine!" Envy yelled.
Al must not have heard him or believed what he heard because of how he looked at Envy, "What?" He asked, willing Envy to repeat what he said.
"I said fine!" Envy yelled, it was the only way to be heard now with all the souls rushing past them, "Let's fight, and beat Father, together!" he declared.
He saw the hope rise in Al's face, "Really?!" He said in shock and happiness and doubled his efforts to keep Envy from Father, "That's more like it, Envy!" He declared when suddenly Envy hit him right in the face, causing Alphonse to let go of the homunculus.
He looked at Envy, shock written all over his face and reached forward but Envy was already out of his reach. "En...Envy!" He yelled.
Envy looked at Alphonse, hoping he would understand, "It's time to say goodby, kiddo," Envy decided, "I'm not going to let my Father absorb you too, there's no point in it!"
Al stared at him in shock before lunging forward, "Wait a minute, Envy!" He yelled, "You just said we'd fight him together! You can't just say that and then sucker punch me!" He had tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.
"How could you lie to me!?" He demanded, "I thought we'd gotten to the point where we trusted each other enough to be honest with each other?" Al asked.
Envy burst out laughing again, "If it means keeping you alive so you can kill Father? Then I'm more then willing to lie! Besides, who said I'd stop lying to you?" He asked as if the whole idea was ridiculous.
"If you are alive, then you can still fight Father," Envy said, forced amusement was in his voice, "You don't even need me at this point to fight Father."
"But..." Alphonse said, "I do," It was quiet, but he did need Envy. Envy had been cruel, eager to settle things with violence, but he was good with advice. He knew how to rile Alphonse up, and how to calm him down. He may not need Envy to fight, but he needed Envy to be their as his friend. Because Envy was his friend, his best friend.
He held an arm out as Envy laughed, "Wait, Envy!" He said, he knew that Envy was using every ounce of power to use his shapeshifting ability on Father, to turn Fathers entire body into a easily breakable substance, it was the one thought Envy let Alphonse hear. He reached out farther, knowing that the homunculus was well out of his reach, "Wait! Envy! Don't do this!" He screamed.
"Bye," Envy said then took full control of their body to look at the closest person with a blade, which happened to be one of the four Xing foreigners, "Hey, Ling!" He yelled.
The prince thankfully knew what he wanted because he lunged forward, and sliced Fathers arm in half. disconnecting him from Envy just as Father finished absorbing Envys Philosophers Stone and Envy himself.
"Envy, no!" Alphonse, having control over his body again, said as he watched the fist in his body disintegrate.
Father took several steps back as he gritted his teeth in pain, his arm was a black color thanks to Envys shapeshfiting ability. "How could you? Envy!" He yelled.
Alphonse looked at his thigh where Envys ourobros was and watched in horror as it too disintegrated. But he could swear he heard Envy laughing in his head, and knew full well that it was just a trick of his mind. He watched as Fathers body, not healing, started turning a dark grey color.
His eyes widened in shock, Fathers mouth, wide open, in the spot that had first held the Eye of God, held the form Envy had inside the stone along with all the other souls from Envys stone surrounding him.
Why, Envy!? Father thought, Why would you betray your own father!?
"I always had a rebellious streak, Dad, I just usually did it in small things, I'm finally taking it to a full scale rebellion," Envy said smugly.
Fathers body started to break and parts crumbled off too. Envy continued, his smug tone increasing, "I used my shape shifting powers that you gave me to your disadvantage! I guess you could say I reversed Greed's ultimate shield. While he's able to turn his body into the strongest form of carbon. I turned yours into the most fragile!"
"You crafty traitor!" Father yelled as he stuck his hand into his mouth and ripped Envy out. "Begone, Envy! Return to the nothing you are!" he said as his hand broke off too.
"ENVY!" Al yelled, seeing his friend disintegrating. Envy didn't have a container now and was out of a body, so his own being was deconstruction. Alphonse knew that there was nothing he could do to stop this from happening.
Fathers hand that was holding Envy finished crumbling to nothing and Envy found he was unable to speak. Damn it all...this really is the end, the homunculus thought as he glanced at the others.
Al was on his knees, watching him with such a pained and horrified expression that it hurt to do this to the kid. Beside him was Ling and May who wore identical shocked expressions.
Envy smiled a little, Heh...you know I could do without those pitiful looks right now Kiddo, you know I hate being pitied. he thought and his mind went back to what Alphonse told him once and then what others had said to him.
"Envy! Friends and love are bonded through the soul! Not the mind!"
Al had screamed that at him when he had his first mental breakdown, when the memories first started coming back.
He smirked a little, when he remembered what Ed had told him.
"If you do anything to hurt Winry, I swear to whatever God there may be, I swear to the Gate and Truth that I will hunt you down and drag you to the deepest pits of Hell,"
Despite them having been enemies, it was clear to see that Ed had begun to trust and even like Envy towards the end. Ed respected Envy a bit and Envy respected the alchemist. They were, on some level, friends without ever realizing it. Knowing that, Envy was filled with a pain of knowing that he was dead.
He laughed a little, I can't believe I became soft enough to think of humans as friends...I really lowered my level there, but I guess I was never really on a different level then all of them. he thought in amusement. It was funny how he didn't actually realize it until he was almost dead that homunculi and humans aren't all that different.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the complete and utter agony on Al's face. He'd lost his brother, and now he's losing one of his best friends. Envy couldn't begin to understand how much that must hurt. Even those Xing royalty kids had pained expressions and Envy wondered if they considered him one of their friends.
Look around he saw a lot of people had pained expressions on. Al, Ling, and May weren't the only ones. Hohenheim, those chimeras, and even Riza had sorrowful expressions on their faces.
Envy pondered on a thought, he always was jealous of humans because of their friendship, something that it seemed the homunculi never did have. But, did Envy really have anything to be envious about? Jealousy is wanting something you don't have and he had always been jealous of humans and their friends. But, maybe there was nothing there to be jealous of, maybe he did have friends. The looks on everyone faces sure suggested that.
No...he did have friends, he had Alphonse. That runt had been his first real friend, had been his best friend.
I have nothing to be jealous of, he thought, his voice becoming weaker, friends, that's all I ever wanted, and I succeeded in getting them. I have no regrets because of that.
He chuckled a little All of you gave me all I could ever want, he thought, they were his friends, and that fact would live on forever in his soul, according to Al's logic. thank you and goodbye...my friends of the...soul... was his final thought as he finally finished disintegrating.
He was gone now, gone forever.
Alphonse stared at the spot Envy had been just moments before. Tears started to run down his face as he stood up, hands clenched in fists. With a cry of rage, he ran towards Father and delivered a powerful blow right through his chest.
The fact that Envy had turned Fathers body into a fragile composition made it easy, and all the souls within him came out with such a force that it almost looked like an explosion.
Father looked at himself in horror, "Our stone...you destroyed my stone!" he said.
The arms that resided in the gate started coming out of the edges of the hole Al made in Fathers chest, intent on dragging him inside of himself and into the Gate.
"What? This can't! What is this!" Father yelled as he tried to fight them off but it was no use.
Al's face held surprise, then cold determination, "Go back to where you belong, go back to nothing," He said and then his voice was laced with anger, "Go back to the nothing you are!" He said, quoting what Father had told Envy.
The arms wrapped Father up and he fell to the ground, "But why?!" He cried up, "Why? I just wanted to understand this worlds knowledge!"
Hohenheim leaned forward a bit, surprised to know that was why Father did all this, such an innocent reason that created such a cruel plot.
"I just wanted to experience it!" Father continued, "Free! I Just wanted to be free!"
Free, Hohenheim could understand that, a former slave, he understood what it's like to want to be free.
With that, the Gate sucked Father back into it.
Cheers erupted all around, Father was beat and Amestris was saved. Doctors ran around to get to the wounded and Alphonse shrugged off the doctor that came to him. His body was perfectly fine because of Envys healing.
Numbly, he headed to the whole, he had to get Ed's and Selim's body's out from in there. He transmuted a set of stairs to go down and didn't notice Hohenheim walking with him until his father picked Ed's body up.
He looked at Selim as Alphonse picked up the cloth that the tiny baby body was on.
"I'm going to give him to Mrs. Bradley," Alphonse said, and Hohenheim understood of Al's choice.
Truthfully, Al was numb to the rest of the day. There was deep mourning for the death of Ed and of his sacrifice. Alphonse found and gave Mrs. Bradley Selim, and told her that the military had created Selim to spy on Führer Bradley, but Selim betrayed them because he felt more loyalty towards his adopted parents then the alchemists who made him. So they reverted him to this form.
apparently the cover up story was that there was plan made by the senior officers to use the citizens of Amestris as sacrifices in alchemy, a plan that Roy and Olivier uncovered and fought to stop, feeling it was their duty to step up in Wraths place when he was considered dead by the train explosion. The citizens of Amestris were told that both Führer Bradley and Selim Bradley were killed during the fighting, Selim had been kidnapped as a hostage and was killed by the traitors.
Alphonse didn't know what happened to the others, his mind was completely numb to everything for two whole days until his senses came back. He knew his dad had gone Resembool to visit his moms grave, but Ed's body was still here.
Also, strangely enough, Alphonse still had the outfit that had been in when he and Envy fought together, it was folded up next to the hospital bed, washed and dried, ready for use. He wasn't going to complain, it reminded him of his sarcastic and violent friend.
Armstrong came in a few minutes after he finished changing into the outfit. It made him feel like Envy was still there with him when he wore it.
"Alphonse," Armstrong began, "What is it you plan on doing now?" He asked, it was clear that the military was worried about what state Alphonse might be in after everything that happened.
Alphonse glanced out a window, watching a black bird fly and land on the tree across from the window, "I guess I'll go back to Resembool," He said, his attention not leaving the window, "Ed would want to be buried there, not have a military funeral," he said. He knew that the military was probably planning a funeral and he knew full well Ed wouldn't want one.
"Would you like help?" Armstrong asked and Alphonse shook his head.
Watching the bird fly away, Al spoke, "Just get a coffin for Ed," He said, "And could you get me train tickets to Resembool?" he asked.
Armstrong nodded, "On it," He said.
The younger Elric nodded, and glanced out the window again watching the bird fly around, his hand absent mindedly clutching Envys headband.
Well, it's a lot shorter on here then it was on my computer when I wrote it. Well it seemed a lot longer when I was writing it. I honestly thought this was going to be my longest chapter in the series. Looks like I was proven wrong.
Well, there is one chapter left after this, I don't think it's going to be very long, but you never know.
But anyways. Tell me what you thought of this chapter.