"The Transmutation"
Havoc growled again for the tenth time that day. Roy glared at him annoyed, but the Lieutenant could care less for that: He hated snow. He couldn't walk properly, he was freezing and the mission hadn't even begun at that point. They had left the fort just two hours ago, but he didn't care, he wanted go to back and now.
"I'll personally push you in the snow if you complain again, Havoc", Breda threatened him suddenly.
Jean shivered and threw the man a glare, "I can't help it, it's just too cold!"
Falman sighed, "You're such a little girl"
"Hey! Take that back!"
Roy almost chuckled, but though it better and remained quiet. He glanced back at the fort which at this point was just a dark figure far away, but he couldn't think in anything else. He knew Edward was safe, but still something had him feeling uneasy and he just couldn't figure out what; still his instincts rarely failed him. However, talk to Olivia was out of the question since she would kill him for doubting about her fort.
The man sighed noticing his frozen breath, but then he saw Riza at his side looking at him out of the corner.
"Something's wrong?"
The woman looked ahead, but her brows frowned deeply, "I think you should've stayed with Edward-Kun too"
Roy stared at her for a brief moment, but then he looked away, "You know what would happen if the Military found that I left you go without me"
"I know", she assured him, "But that's a risk we all would have agreed to take"
The raven-haired man couldn't hold back a smile. He didn't deserve this kind of loyalty, but still he appreciated it, "Well, what's done is done anyway"
The First Lieutenant drew a tiny smile too, "The Major General doesn't look pleased with our company"
"She thinks the Military is overreacting about the whole thing. She's sure they can handle it without us"
"I see". Riza then glanced around sweat dropping when she saw Breda and Havoc yelling at each other for something irrelevant surely. Those couldn't just behave…
But then, something became notorious. Her eyes moved around quickly trying to confirm it before she said anything, but the panic took over her.
"Sir, where's Kimbley?"
"What?", Roy looked for the man in the position he was sure he had seen him while ago, but his heart raced when he couldn't find him anywhere, "Oh no"
In that moment, he turned around began to run in the opposite direction followed by Riza, but his crew didn't react immediately, they just stared at them confused. Finally, they decided to follow the Colonel leaving a Major General Armstrong screaming at them behind.
……………….
Edward took a deep breath. And then another one. He closed his eyes trying to focus his mind in the noise outside since it had been too quiet for a few minutes. Miles had locked him inside a cabinet and he had heard explosions, screams and guns since them, but he was so afraid to go out. The blonde put his arms around his legs and blinked in the darkness, he was feeling a hole in his chest and it wouldn't be too long before he decided to get out of there. He hated the dark.
One more scream and the blonde flinched. His eyes widened in fear, but mostly in guiltiness; they were killing people because of him. He couldn't hide and wait until they killed everyone, but still, he was scared.
How had they found him? Roy took all the precautions and the military were oblivious to the fact that he was in that place, so how could they have known? He heard some gunshots and instinctively hid his head between his arms. What should he do? What should he do?
With his shaking hand, he pushed the door of the furniture slightly to take a look. Nothing. Apparently they hadn't looked for him in that place yet. What should he do? Stay there and wait until they kill each other and don't waste their sacrifice? Go out so they stop hurting innocent people?
Ed pushed the door just a little more and took out his head. No one was there. He then stood up and hurried to the frame of the door; he could feel his heart fighting to get out of his chest, but he tried to take a deep breath and relax. Panicking wasn't an option now that he was out.
He hurried through the corridor hearing just the echo of his footsteps, ready to use alchemy if needed. For a few minutes, the kid ran in empty halls becoming anxious at the lack of noise, this couldn't be good.
The blonde stopped at one corner and took a peek. Nothing. For half an hour that seemed an eternity he looked for someone, but he didn't find anyone, not even bodies. He gulped. What should he do?
"Are you looking for someone in particular?"
Ed jumped and turned around just to see Kimbley leaned on the wall, his arms crossed and a wide smirk on his face.
"I've been following you, but I got bored already"
The blonde just stood there frozen watching how the man began to approach him threateningly, but his legs didn't respond to his head screaming, "S-Stay away", he managed to say frowning.
Kimbley laughed, "Oh, what are you going to do? Punch me?"
Edward gritted his teeth and got ready since the man had launched towards him. He moved quickly to avoid the Crimson Alchemist's hand and tried to punch him with his automail hand; however, Kimbley was fast to grab his arm.
"You little bastard, did you really think you could fight against me?"
The boy struggled against the man's hand, but his efforts were useless, "Let go!"
The alchemist pulled the kid and dragged him through the hall smirking at the struggle of the blonde to slip away.
"Stop it already. We've lost precious time looking for you"
"And you will lose more"
Ed managed to clap his hands and transmuted his automail into a blade to cut him on the shoulder. Kimbley growled and let the boy's arm go to put his hand on the injury.
"What the hell?!"
Unable to breath, the blonde clapped his hands again and created a wall in front of him so he had a chance to run away. When he turned in the corner of the corridor, he heard an explosion; Kimbley was after him already. In his desperation, he reached a wall, clapped his hands and, when he was about to touch it to create a hole, he felt how a leg kicked him in the stomach and sent him a few feet away. He gasped for air, but when he saw the man approaching him again, he tried to get up unsuccessfully.
"You're brave, I give you that", Kimbley murmured with his smile still stuck on his face.
"And I give you this"
Ed's eyes widened when Miles punched Kimbley in the face when he turned around. The Major then grabbed the blonde and hurried through the corridor until they hit a camouflaged door which Miles opened and closed it when they got in.
The man fell on his knees and grabbed the kid's shoulders, "Are you alright?!", he said almost shaking him, "Edward?!"
"I-I'm Ok, Major", the blonde finally said catching his breath.
Miles then stood up and signed Ed to follow him, "Come on, he'll find us soon"
The blonde nodded and did as told, "Where's everybody?"
"Hidding, trying to confuse the intruders. We have protocols for this situation"
Edward raised a brow, but he kept quiet. Should he have stayed hidden then? He bit his lip and followed the man through the dark hall, not sure where they were heading to. For a few minutes, both ran in silence, but the uncertainty was eating him alive.
"Where are we going?"
Miles didn't answer right away, instead, he waited a few seconds before he said something, "Where everyone is hiding of course"
However, the man stopped abruptly and Ed did the same when he saw a woman standing in front of them. A woman Edward knew very well.
"Dr. Lyra?"
She smiled widely, "We meet again, boy"
Edward blinked a few times dumbfounded, "Wha…What are you doing here?"
Lyra took a step ahead, but Miles stood in front of the kid and got ready to shot if necessary, so she stopped, "I know, I should be in jail, shouldn't I? Those idiots really thought they could hold me in that pathetic place". The woman began to walk towards Ed again, so Miles aimed the gun, "Don't be stupid, you won't harm me with that"
"Edward, who is she?", the man asked him with his eyes fixed on her.
"She", the kid began, "She was one of the scientists in the laboratory I was imprisoned"
The woman smiled, "I'm not just a 'scientist'. In fact, I'm not even a doctor"
"Who the hell are you then?", Miles insisted holding the hand with both hands now.
Lyra face frowned, she raised his hand and Edward saw how she created a wind torrent to push Miles away until he crashed against the wall. "Nuisance"
The blonde stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, but when he tried to approach the Major, Kimbley was already blocking him. "Game over, little bastard"
Ed glanced around and saw all the intruders walking towards him, so he just stood there frowning his brows at Lyra.
"Don't look me like that, we didn't kill that many of your friends", she said with a wide smile.
"You were a member of the Alchemist Union the entire time, weren't you?", the kid hissed, but he backed up when the woman laughed.
"A member? Of course not. The Alchemist Union is mine"
Edward bit his lip. The boy's eyes moved fast checking his options, but the situation didn't look good at all, "What the hell you want with me?"
Lyra then began to walk toward him again, "You know who your father was, don't you?"
His father? What did he have to do with all this? He frowned deeply.
"Your father created the last philosopher stone known", the woman continued now stopping in front of Edward, "But I helped him".
Ed growled, "I don't get why that is important"
"Because, my little friend, thanks to that stone I've lived 400 years. But my part of the stone is dying"
…He didn't like where the conversation was heading, "So you're going to die", he said coldly.
Lyra then smiled again, "Unless I can get another one, brand new if you like".
"I don't have the stone if that what you are thinking", the kid said raising a brow.
"Of course you don't"
One of the men gave Lyra a book and she quickly ran through the pages, "Your father ran away with the major part of the stone that idiot, so I couldn't find it. The little piece of it that I could kept wasn't enough to do something else than to let me live longer than a normal human When someone told me he had died, I thought my hopes on finding the stone were gone with him"
The blonde flinched when he noticed how some of the intruders were drawing something in the floor, but Lyra approached him and he looked up at her again.
"But then, I found about you. Somehow Hohenheim power was transferred to you, I don't know if he did it or what", she said finally stopping at one page, "I sent for you, but your lovely neighbors wouldn't tell us who was Hohenheim's child, so we destroyed the village looking for you"
Ed gritted his teeth, but he remained quiet. It wasn't like he hadn't thought of it before and the idea had haunted him long enough now.
"So, when I knew they had gotten you, I turned myself into a doctor to see if it was really you", she continued, her eyes stuck on the book, "However, when I saw you power, I'll be honest, I thought it twice. You couldn't control it and I didn't know how, so I would risk my life if I decided to do something. I couldn't let the Military put a hand on you thought"
"What are you doing?", the blonde interrupted her when he saw the chalks on the men hands.
"But we decided to give Roy a try with you and, amazingly enough, he did wonders with you", she finished with the most evil smile Edward had seen in his life.
It was when the blonde recognized the transmutation circle under him. It was the circle he had seen in his dreams, the circle drawn in Roy's book. His eyes widened in shock and fell back, "No"
"Yes, I guess you know what this circle will do to you", she said closing the book, "Now that you can control your power, I'm sure everything will go smoothly"
Edward straightened up and tried to run, but two men grabbed him and put him against the floor, "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!!"
Lyra then dropped the book and clapped her hands, "This circle will let me suck you power and I will use another one to transform that energy into a stone. Don't worry, it will be quick"
"NO! STOP IT! STOP IT!", the boy cried using all his strength to fight the two men, but it was useless; he couldn't move an inch, "STOP IT!!"
But the woman touched the circle. Edward saw frightened how the transmutation began expulsing a huge load of energy until it the circle fully activated. The two men finally freed him, but when he wanted to get out of the circle, the energy sent him to the core of the transmutation.
Lyra laughed at him, "Don't worry, it will end soon"
Ed stared at her with wide eyes, unable to do anything. That dream came to his head again and he almost chocked at the thought of what was coming for him. He'd die. No, worst that than. He would be an empty shell just waiting to die. A pathetic existence. Then, something hit him…what about Roy? All his efforts to maintain him alive? All the time wasted?
What about making him suffer?
A tear ran Edward's cheek. He closed his eyes and it was when he began to feel the transmutation doing something to him. Sucking his life away. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth at the sudden pain taking over him; he would not scream. He would not give her the pleasure. His legs gave up and fell on his knees, his body shaking violently.
He looked up to see Lyra with her hands raised like she was gathering something between them, but all he could see was a small white light. She still didn't have anything. His brows frowned and used all his strength to get up trying to draw a dirty smirk. Well, she said the transmutation was safe because he could control his power, what if he let it go on purpose? Expel all his energy. It would not save him, on the contrary, it would probably kill him and all the presents, but that was by far better than to live like doll. He really wished he could have said good bye to Roy at least, but this was the only option he had.
The blonde closed his eyes and tried to ignore the pain for a second. Lyra eyes snapped open when she noticed the change in the flow of the transmutation since it became erratic.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
He smirked, "What do you think I'm doing?"
The woman tried to move to approach the kid, but the energy of the transmutation didn't let her do anything. She could only see with wide eyes how the boy increased the power of the transmutation more and more at the point where some of her men and woman became scared and ran.
"STOP IT YOU BASTARD! YOU WILL KILL US!"
Edward ignored her and became fully concentrated. Well, at least nobody would try to use him again, whatever she meant with her story and his heritage. And, of course, Roy would be able to go back to his life. Would he remember him in a few years? The blonde bit his lip and hold back a whimper, he still had job to do since the transmutation wasn't big enough yet.
However, something went terribly wrong with his plan. Something unexpected happened when he looked at his right and noticed a pair of dark eyes staring in shock at him. His eyes widened at the sight of Roy frozen. This could not be happening.
"EDWARD!!!!!!"