Dragon Ball GX, Side Story: The Alchemic Saiyan
Chapter 24: Who You Really Are
Alphonse Elric
As I stood over Scar, I panted, and began to shake. "Man, that was too close!" I whimper, surprised I wasn't atomized from being so close to brother.
"ALPHONSE, WHAT THE FUCKING HELL, ARE YOU CRAZY!" Edward screams as he gets up in my face.
"Brother, I had to, I mean…you were about to…-"
"Yeah, I know, that's the plan, and you're ruining it" he cuts bitterly, looking past me to Scar, who was scared out of his mind.
"By the way, how the hell did you get here? I know you could make a pillar over the wall, but Rush Valley is hundreds of miles away, we're talking over a half day to get here by train" Edward says with disbelief.
"I brought him, and your other friends, just in time too it seems" Pride's voice says from behind us.
"Pride, YOU DID THIS?" Ed screams angrily.
"A "Thank you for the quick travel fare I provided for your pals so they could come knock some sense into your thick skull" would be appreciated" Pride replies spitefully.
"OHHHHHHHH, don't you get fresh with me Pride! You're talking to the guy who can destroy planets with his pinky, lets not forget that smartass, you don't wanna throw down with me do you?" Edward shouts as he rolls up a sleeve and grins, forming a fist.
"Will you muscle headed dopes stop arguing!" Winry screams angrily, causing Ed to freeze up surprisingly.
"(Stammering) Whadidja…WINRY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Ed bellows angrily.
"I'm here to talk to you Edward you dummy" Winry replies with exasperation.
"Yeah I know, but as you can see, I'm kinda busy trying to kill Scar, now get out of the way and we'll talk later" Edward says as he begins to form a death beam on his finger, aiming it straight at Scar's forehead, who was now propped up on his elbows and looking at Edward with horror.
"No, Ed, stop! That's what I'm here to talk about, to prevent you from killing Scar" Winry shouts, grabbing hold of his right arm before he can fire the beam.
Edward Elric
As Winry grabbed my arm and spoke, I felt my throat close up in astonishment and bafflement, causing the Ki blast to die on my fingertips.
"Pre-pre-pre-PREVENT ME FROM DOING WHAT!" I scream with shock, still unsure if I'd heard my girlfriend's answer correctly.
"Yeah, you heard me right, I'm here to stop you from killing Scar" she says firmly.
"Winry, don't you know who this guy is? This is Scar, he's the one who!-"
"I know Ed" she replies quietly, shutting me up in an instant.
"Y-You know?" I choke, still unsure if I was hearing her correctly, her nod gave me affirmation that I was right.
"How? That was one of the few secrets I'd kept from you, despite having learned it, I thought it'd be best to reveal to you once he was brought to justice" I say as I look over to Scar, who was still pinned where he lay with fear, looking at me in horror.
"You call this justice?" Winry says quietly, her head lowered.
Without warning, she slapped me across the right side of my face angrily.
"THIS ISN'T JUSTICE EDWARD, IT'S REVENGE, HATEFUL, BURNING REVENGE THAT CONSUMES, YOU'RE NO DIFFERENT THAN SCAR RIGHT NOW!" she screams indignantly.
"I' am nothing like Scar, don't you dare compare me to that monster" I say through gritted teeth, trying to hold back my anger at being insulted in such a way.
"I'm not comparing, I'm stating facts; you're about to vaporize a helpless man who accidentally killed my parents in a bout of medically induced insanity years ago. Right now, the real monster here is you Edward!" Winry shouts.
I couldn't believe my ears; she was defending the son of a bitch! That pushed me over the edge; to hear my lover defend such a psychopath was too much. I could feel my Ki rising again, surging, spilling over.
"Uh…everyone, Mr. Elric's power is-"
"No need to tell us twice, Lan Fan, Fu, get your asses in gear, we gotta move!" the voices of Ling and May comment from far off, my rage clouding my other senses.
"Ed, dude, just chill ok?" Envy's voice pleads.
"Brother, its me, Alphonse, listen please, you need to calm down, calm-"
"RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I bellow, causing a massive Kiai to surge through the area and whip up a pressure wave that tore up the land like a tidal wave, as if a nuclear weapon had been detonated where I stood. In moments, everything that wasn't loose matter within 100 feet of me, became consumed by the Kiai aura burst that had emitted from within me.
Roy Mustang
"Alright, I'm tired of waiting; Alex, make some stairs for us to use so we can get in there, I just know something is gonna go wrong, we need to get inside before its-"
With a rumbling BOOM! that shook the whole city, we all fell over on our asses, and I sighed.
"Too late" Alex finishes, as we struggled back to our feet.
"Ok, now a new order; unless you get orders from someone higher up than me or Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, you stay on this side of that metal barrier the monster erected; someone has obviously become the focus of his wrath, and we'd be best to stay out of the way, even I can't take on this beast, so that should speak volumes about how well you other folks would fare in a fight with that thing, am I clear?" I shout, causing the men to salute.
"Sir yes sir!" they shout obediently.
"Mustang, do you think its wise to just stay out here? What if Ed has lost control again?" Armstrong whispers as he slinks over.
"I bet that's why he made the barrier, in case he did, so we wouldn't get hurt, so I think its best we stay here. As much as I'd like to really see what Ed can do, it probably isn't safe, I can only imagine what he's doing to the Ishvalan in there" I reply solemnly, causing Alex to shiver some.
"As strange as it may seem, I pity the poor man who has to face Edward Elric when he's really mad, even if that man is the infamous Scar. The boy is certain to remember their first encounter, he's certain to not take too kindly to almost being killed" Alex whispers back.
"Yeah, I just hope Ed leaves something of a body left for us to identify; with his powers, he could atomize the bastard. Mostly, I just want Ed to not hurt anyone else, even by accident" I say as the rumbling dies down, causing Alex to nod as we stare at the wall again.
Winry Rockbell
"(Groan) Oh my head, what the hell happened I…EDWARD, HE BLASTED US! I can't believe it, that brat-AAHHHH! What the hell, it feels like my legs are broken, but I'm sure that's not possible, they'd have to be buried under rubble to have…-" I mumble to myself, as I realize that I' am buried under some rubble, but it wasn't that much, so the blast wave must have broken them. As I looked up, I realized all the buildings in the area had been damaged, and blown down, it was remarkable people weren't that injured.
"Winry, are you ok?" Al asks as he jumps over to where I was at, and began to clear the rubble.
"I'd be more worried about Edward, AND WHAT I'M GONNA DO TO HIM WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT JER-AAAHHHH!" I scream as my leg pain surges again.
"There you two are, now, I'm dropping you and the other goofballs in my way on the other side of the wall, and I don't want to hear anymore bullshit about me going overboar…Winry?" Ed asks angrily, when his face suddenly does a mirror flip, and he gets those big concerned eyes.
Edward Elric
As I saw Winry's forehead, there was blood running down her forehead, and the Ki flow in her legs was out of synch, they were damaged!
"Winry…your head…your legs…" I drone, barely able to comprehend what had happened; In my anger…I had hurt the girl I hold most dear, and I could have…
"No…Winry…I didn't mean…this wasn't supposed to…" I babble, still unable to think straight, my mouth speaking on its own almost I was so out of it.
I had hurt Winry, with my own two hands, I'd made her cry yet again.
"BROTHER!" Al screams, snapping out of my dazed stupor and fully taking notice of what my rage had wrought.
"No…NO, WINRY! NO, WHAT HAVE I DONE! I can fix this, just please be ok!" I bellow, pushing Al out of the way and preparing for a closer examination of Winry's wounds.
"Hey, I wanted you to snap out of it Ed, not get pushy!" Al whines.
"Oh lighten up, in your current state you're pretty much indestructible as long as your blood seal remains intact, but Winry is flesh and bone, she needs medical attention stat! Don't worry Winry, I'll fix this, just please don't die on me" I pant as I begin to use my Ki healing to repair the damage.
"Ed, relax, its not that bad, just my legs broke and a bit of a laceration on my head; I'm ok, I wasn't dying" she replies lightly as my Ki waves bathe her in light, her comment causing me to look at her with a serious face.
"But you could have been, Winry, all my loved ones are as fragile as glass to me now, I'm that powerful, I have to have total control over my strength and emotions, or…well you saw, I nearly blew you up with a little slip-up of rage, imagine if I'd really lost it?" I reply weakly, counting each instant till she was completely healthy again.
"Well what matters now is I'm ok, and so is everyone else" Winry says calmly as the healing finishes and she hugs me.
"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, WE ALMOST GOT BLOWN STRAIGHT BACK TO XING YOU ASSHOLE!" Ling yells angrily.
"You're lucky we anticipated that with our senses and got Ms. Chang to safety, you could have blown us all to pieces" Fu adds.
"At least you guys avoided most of the blast, we got hit, head on, IT HURT! it's a good thing I'm flexible or I could have really been hurt" Martel comments as she rubs her head, the other chimeras groaning too.
"Speak for yourself wimps, I was inside the damn blast and look what it did!" Envy screams as he shows off his half vaporized body, his left leg reduced to skeletal remains, and still healing along with the rest of his body.
"Ha, well I was smart and used my ultimate shield just before the wave hit, not a scratch" Greed boasts, till a loud cracking sound is heard and his whole graphene layer crumbles off his body in bits and pieces like broken glass, Envy and the chimera gang instantly laughed at this.
"Hey shut up! At least I'm not injured, my shield took the blow for me, I still consider myself the luckiest out of all you bastards" Greed says as he blushes heavily from embarrassment at the fact his shield couldn't take such a low level blow from me.
"Edward, warn your darling maiden before doing that next time ok? You could have hurt your future wife" May says, causing me and Winry to nearly choke.
"FUTURE WHAT!" we say simultaneously.
"ENOUGH! Right now, you might wanna take stock of the missing Ishvalan I recovered for you, and his lackey, Yogi something, and by the way, I'm the luckiest Greed, the blast phased right through me in my shadow portal form, I didn't even feel a thing" Pride says as he walks over, his numerous shadow hands holding the two over his head by their ankles.
"ITS YOKI! How come only Edward here remembers that?" the ex-military official sobs.
"Sorry about that Yoki; Pride, put him down, he's just a guy down on his luck, no need to manhandle the dude, but keep a good grip on Scar, I wanna deal with him personally" I say as I get up and head toward Pride, who had bound Scar with his shadows at his feet, while Yoki fled behind Alphonse the moment he was let loose.
"Ok Scar, it's the end of the line is where you are, time to pay the piper!" I shout as my palms begin to glow with flame like Ki emanations.
"Ed, please listen to me, I wasn't trying to just make you stop before the blast, I really don't hold the death of my parents to Scar, I'm sure he never meant to, if he wasn't so scared and drugged when he came to, I doubt he'd have hurt them, they did save his life, he surely didn't mean to kill them, it must have been a mistake" Winry pleads, causing me to extinguish my energy fire.
"No…you're wrong, I was responsible for my actions" Scar announces, causing everyone's attention to snap to him, my own included.
Winry Rockbell
Now that I was pain-free, I could think clearly; but still, I now questioned what I had heard. Scar was…admitting he did it, and knew what he was doing when he did it?
"Scar…what are you saying, that you purposely killed my mom and dad?" I gasp through choking sobs.
"Yes, I did it, I knowingly murdered the Rockbells in cold blood 7 years ago" Scar says calmly, letting his fists relax, and his body go limp as he sighed.
"You…you knew what you were doing, what they did for you…and you still…(voice grows hushed) killed them?" I rasp, hoping I was hearing things.
After a few moments of silence, Scar replied monotonously, "Yes"
I felt the dams break, and my eyes leaked forth with hot fresh tears, as I realized the truth; all this time, Scar didn't accidentally kill them, it was all intended. As I wept, Edward screamed.
"YOU BASTARD, I KNEW IT, YOU DID MURDER THEM IN COLD BLOOD, HOW DARE YOU!" Edward roars, snapping me out of my crying fit to see his face contorted with anger. Holding up his right hand, a red glow began to emit from it, slowly taking the shape of…a double-edge blade; he'd formed a sword of pure Ki. Lowering it, he pointed the tip straight at Scar and began to scowl.
"(Panting) You…monster! I'm…gonna…hack you to death, PIECE BY PIECE!" Edward bellows, practically foaming at the mouth and trembling with rage as he slashes the ground beside us for emphasis, causing a huge molten slice to be carved into the earth beneath where he struck, the trench 100 feet deep and 30 feet long.
"You got 10 seconds before I slice and dice you to oblivion, so this is your only chance to make a last request" Edward says as he holds the blade over Scar like an ancient executioner.
"Wait…I have one question before anything else happens, and its for Scar" I say as I have a sudden realization, causing everyone gathered to look at me funnily. Walking over to where he was restrained by Pride's tendrils, I looked him in the eyes, doing my best to keep the tears out of mine long enough to ask my question.
"Scar, before I can decide whether there is even a chance I can forgive you even a little, I have to know…do you have any regret for what you did to my parents?" I ask solemnly, taking everyone by surprise, including Scar, and causing Ed to belay his judgment slash.
Scar
As I lay there, restrained by shadows from the demon kid, I realized that I was being offered a serious opportunity for a chance to explain myself, and how I felt, how I felt…about my greatest mistake.
"Girl…I mean, Winry, I've killed plenty of people in my life, most without a moment of regret. But there are two I've always wished I could take back ever since the moment I did it" I say quietly, causing the boy to stand at ease and make the glowing blade vanish.
"So…(Sniffle) you do regret killing my mother and father?" she cries.
"Every day of my life, every waking moment, if there was one thing I could take back, it was killing those two heroes, they were probably the only Amestrians I could ever say were worthy of respect. (Dry chuckle) Listen to me, the guy who killed them, admitting he thinks that some Amestrians are heroes, talk about ironic" I reply quietly. With a quiet chuckle, Winry knelt down and looked at me, smiling for some reason.
"That's all I needed to hear Scar, thank you" she says gently, then rose back to her feet and looked at Edward Elric with a firm face.
"Ed, I want you to spare his life" she says demandingly, causing the kid to stare at her.
Then, of all the absurdities, he started laughing.
"HA HA HA! Good one Winry, spare the life of Scar, just like that, HA HAAAAAAA! Whoooo, man you've got some sense of humor, eh…wait, you're serious?" he replies, his humor drying up as he saw her face. I was surprised too, despite having so grievously wronged her, she still was willing to let me live.
"Yes, spare his life, we could use all the people on our side we can get, plus he is sorry, I saw it in his eyes" she continues, causing Edward to grab his chin.
"Hmmm, you make some good points; spare Scar, all on your word, even though he killed innocent lives, including those of a little girl, and your parents. Ok, let me think, um…what's the words I'm looking for?" he remarks in a mocking voice. I knew that wasn't a good sign.
"Oh yeah, now I remember; NO BLOODY FUCKING WAY IN HELL!" he roars, as the crimson blade of energy reforms in an instant, and he swings at me. Reacting instinctively, I barely dodged the blow, as it left a molten hole in the ground.
"Damn it, you're supposed to hold still and take your execution like a man! Well, you'll hold still now, Pride, tighten the grip!" he shouts, and I feel the shadows constrict me further.
"He says your time is up, so your time is up, meet the reaper himself, Edward Elric" the boy says in his chilling voice as he holds me down.
"Now, to answer for all your crimes, and to avenge the death of my family friends, the parents of my Winry, today you DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Edward yells as he raises the blade and prepares to swipe with his blade again. I knew this time, there would be no escaping, I would perish now.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alphonse and Winry scream, as they suddenly get in front of me, causing Edward to gasp and halt the swing in mid-air.
Edward Elric
Just before I could execute Scar, for no logical reason, Al and Winry stepped between me and Scar, holding their arms out and using themselves as human shields.
"What the fuck…YOU IDIOTS, MOVE, ATTEMPTING TO DEAL OUT JUSTICE HERE!" I shout, causing them to move closer to Scar.
"No, this is wrong, he's sorry for his crimes, let him live brother" Al shouts defensively.
"Maybe you didn't hear him earlier, he confessed that he did it willingly with his own damn mouth! He may be repentant, but that doesn't change the fact that he's guilty, he doesn't even feel sorry for the other alchemists, hell, he isn't sorry he killed Nina, and yet you still want me to spare his life? Well that's it, get out of the way right now!" I shout, causing them to scoot even closer to him.
"NO!" they scream in absolute refusal.
"I…wasn't…asking" I growl through clenched teeth as I wave my hands, causing two giant adamantium fists to erupt from the ground and carry them off to the side.
"Alright, that's it, I was onboard with this "killing Scar" idea till this point, but now after seeing what its gonna turn you into if you succeed, I can't let you do it Ed" Ling shouts as he leaps over with his sword drawn, Lan Fan and Fu joining him.
"Yeah, the foreigner has a point, you're losing yourself to the hatred kid, you gotta calm down before its too late, so we're giving you two choices" Greed remarks as he begins to coat himself in his shield.
"You can either stand down and let Scar live-" Martel adds as she stands with the growing group that stood between me and the Ishvalan.
"-Or fight us" Greed's voice echoes as his graphene cover completely finishes covering him.
"All of us, to the bitter end; sorry darling, but I just can't stand aside and watch my future husband become a heartless killer" May says in agreement as she fills her hands with Kunai knives, Xiao-Mei growling as she stood on May's shoulder.
"Yeah, you might be strong, but I doubt you can take all of us at once, you're still just made of flesh and blood" Ling continues, causing me everyone to stare at him with shock, and me to laugh in hysterics
"Well why don't you just put that theory to the test Greling?" I joke as I wipe my eyes, remembering the name it depicted I'd come up with in the anime, causing the prince to cock his head to the side in confusion.
"Sorry, it's a joke I'll have to explain some other time; anyways, back to your threats, I say, BRING IT ON!" I shout, causing them to charge me angrily.
The fools, blindly rushing into a smack down, hadn't my earlier demonstrations of power proven they were no match for me? As the chimeras reached me, I parried each blow with one hand, never bothering to even punch back due to how much force each parry contained, they knocked themselves back after every blow. To my eyes, this spectacle was elegant, like a dance, deflecting each blow gracefully with ease. To them, it undoubtedly looked like they were fighting a grand master of martial arts, and in truth, they were.
"What's wrong, I thought we were going to fight guys, not take a trip to the ballroom" I chuckle as I balance on one foot and use a sweeping kick with a wide arc, tripping all four of them flat on their asses. In an instant, they were upon me again, and Roa and Dolcetto were charging me with their hammer and katana respectively.
Holding up my arms, I used the right fist to smash the head of Roa's hammer to bits as it came near me, and the left hand to snap Dolcetto's katana blade off right at the handle, unintentionally sending the shrapnel zinging toward Yoki's head in a nearby alley.
"AAHHHHHH! Careful, you almost took my head off damn it!" Yoki screams angrily.
"Sorry about that man, I'll make it up to you later; alright chumps, playtime is over" I snarl as I face my would be assailants again.
With a single tap to each of their stomachs, they all flew back 10 feet into a pile, where they sat up weakly, trying to stay conscious.
"That's ring out for you guys, alright now…who's next?" I smirk as I curl my fingers, anticipating a bit more fighting before I had to get back to business.
Immediately following their collective collapse, came the three Yao clansmen fighters. They quickly charged me, their moves much swifter than the chimeras, faster even than Martel, their blows were also much more precise, and I found myself needing to turn it up a notch to stay ahead. As their ferocity continued, I decided I'd start tapping them back, making sure to seriously restrain myself so I didn't cause injury. With every touch I dealt them, they groaned more and more, their other moves weakening as my blows whittled away their strength and accuracy.
"This is insanity! How can one man as skilled at martial arts so as to be able to fight off edged weaponry with his bare hands?" Fu comments as we keep trading blows, my arms easily holding off their sword swipes like swats from rolled up newspapers.
"It's the Ki! I remember cause I tried to cut him with my shield claws a short while back, I got about as far as you did, and they're stronger and sharper than steel blades, ordinary melee weapons just won't cut it!" Greed announces from the sides, apparently waiting before entering the fray for some reason.
"Then we have to change tactics, everyone fall back!" Ling shouts as he nods to his servants. Suddenly, Lan Fan and Fu reached into their pouches and pulled out a string of bombs, and pulled the detonation strings.
"TAKE COVER!" Fu shouts as they leap back several hundred feet, and Alphonse, who had apparently helped Winry and himself escape my adamantium fists with the use of Alchemy, created a series of pillars to carry the others away as well. Leaning down to pick up the bombs, I laughed at this pathetic attempt to hurt me as I held what would be certain death to ordinary people in my grasp.
"You think…(Laughing) that some stupid firecrackers are gonna do jack shit? HA! You Xingese are some kinda morons if you think this will work after all you've seen me do!" I retort, causing Ling to smile that stupid grin of his.
"They're portable dynamite caps we made for emergencies, I think you'll find they've got a bit of a kick to them" Ling chuckles smugly.
Moments later, the bomb fuses ran out and they blew up in my face, coating me in a cloud of smoke and soot.
May Chang
As the bombs blew up in Edward's face, I screamed with horror.
"NOOOO, EDWARD!" I scream, feeling certain that the blast had killed him, or worse, scarred his pretty face! Turning to face Ling, I leapt up and grabbed him by his shirt collar.
"HOW COULD YOU BLOW UP MY DARLING EDWARD!" I scream, pushing the would be emperor down on his rear as I leapt off and stood over him.
"I'm sorry, but I had to do it, nothing else was working on him" Ling argues as he sits up and dusts off his outfit.
"Correction, nothing is working on me dumbass!" Edward's voice says bitterly from within the smoke. Looking toward the cloud, we all looked for the source of Ed's voice, and saw a silhouette inside. As the smoke cleared, it revealed a soot covered man with a very annoyed and angry expression on his face.
It was my darling Edward, wonderful! But as the smoke completely blew away, his features revealed that he looked even madder than before, and that was not wonderful.
"All you succeeded in doing was ruining my beautiful hair, and that really makes me mad!" he shouts angrily as he starts strolling toward us, but at a pace more akin to sprinting he was moving so fast.
"May, come on, we have to try and stall my brother long enough till we think of a way to reach him, you make sure to stay back while I use my Alchemy to try and hold him off" the tall armor man says as he steps forth and hold his hands near each other, as if in preparation to clap.
"For your information, I can use Alkahestry, and I'm far from defenseless" I huff as I toss a series of knives toward the ground mid-way between us and my approaching, enraged sweetheart. Dropping another pair of knives at my feet to form the other star, I place my hand on the ground, and with a surge of alkahestry, a giant stone fist erupts right into Edward's face, sending him flying back into a building as he is caught off guard.
"Sorry Ed dear, but I can't let go through with this course of action" I apologize, hoping he wouldn't hold it to me.
"Apparently you can't shut your trap you brat!" Edward says with a low, angry voice from right behind us. Slowly turning around, we saw him snarling, with clenched teeth.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Alphonse and I scream in fear, mostly from shock at how fast he'd move.
"I thought you knew how fast I was brother, come on, just stand down, I don't want to have to hurt you Al, just let me kill Scar and be done with it" Edward says calmly, reaching out with a twitching fist toward us.
"NO!" Al shouts, clapping his hands and transmuting a deep pitfall that swallowed up his Edward. As I peered down over the edge, I looked for the bottom, wondering how deep Al had made it.
"I can't even see the bottom, you think he's ok?" I worriedly, hoping Edward was ok.
"What do you think?" Ed's voice shouts from in the hole, as a bright red light appears from deep down inside. Within moments, the light got brighter, and Edward was floating slowly out of the hole, standing there menacingly, his eyes glowing white, his pupils and irises nowhere to be found as he snarled with rage. To add to it, he was also glowing with what appeared to be crimson fire!
Then, leaning over right in our faces, he whispered, "Boo!"
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" we scream, holding onto each other, with Al beginning to stutter in fear.
"You know me better than anyone Al, what did you think was gonna happen when you crossed your super powered older brother wise guy?" Edward says with a throaty, frightening tone.
"Please, don't make it too painful" Al whimpers as he cowers down, pushing me behind himself for protection.
"Oh you big baby, apart from the fact that you know I'd never hurt you for sadistic purposes, you're currently an animated suit of armor, you can't even feel pain idiot!" Edward shouts as a fierce wind picks up, and Alphonse is suddenly tossed over my head like a cannonball, screaming all the way.
"Alright little girl, time to go for a ride!" he shouts scarily as he floats closer to me with his arms outstretched to reach for me, the fire blazing all around him with power.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU'RE NOT MY EDWARD!" I scream as I toss hundreds of knives all around, forming dozens of alkahestry arrays. Dropping down as fast as I could, I put the last pair at my feet and activated the arrays, sending fist after fist of solid earth straight into his face and body.
"Hey (Grunt), brat (Grunt), stop that (Grunt), its very (Grunt), annoying (Grunt), please stop now (Grunt)" he argues as the fists continue to pummel him. I didn't plan to stop till the Edward I'd heard all about in Youswell was back, and truthfully, I hoped that I wouldn't have to do this much longer.
"I (Grunt), stop (Grunt), now (Grunts then begins to roar)" Edward snarls as all the fists head toward him at once.
"I…said…stop it, you little…PISSANTTTTTTTTTTT!" he thunders, a sudden pulse of red energy emitting from his chest and spreading out like a shockwave, shattering all the stone fists into gravel effortlessly, and blowing me off my feet toward a pile of broken glass spikes.
"WHAAAAA!" I scream, knowing I was gonna be killed from multiple puncture wounds immediately upon impact, so I closed my eyes and waited for the end.
"GOTCHA! That was too close, are you ok miss?" Al's voice shouts as I suddenly feel a pair of gentle metal arms cradling me softly in their embrace, squinting an eye open, I found I wasn't dreaming, I was alive. My hero none other than…the armor man Alphonse?
"Y-Yeah, I'm ok, I suppose…(Blushes) I didn't ask you to save me you know" I reply with embarrassment, as I somehow felt…comfortable in this armored man's arms.
"Oh, it was nothing, just doing my job, May Chang right?" he asks nervously.
"(Nods) Yeah, thank you for saving my life Mr. Alphonse" I reply as I hug him, the feelings I got from holding him strangely feeling…right somehow.
"FOR THE YOUNG LORD!" Fu screams as he and Lan Fan leap towards Edward with their swords drawn, Edward raised his arms and easily blocked their blows, they repeated this 3 more times with increasing intensity after each one. After kicking off of Edward's limbs once more, they leapt at him a 5th time, with Lan Fan screaming, "FOR MASTER LING!"
Suddenly, Edward grabbed both the incoming warriors like sticks and growled with rage.
"I've had just about enough of your pointless, Xingese acrobatic assholery!" he roars as he swings both of them like rag dolls into the pavement with an overhead arcing slam that shook the area like a bomb blast, causing the ground where they were impacted to form fissures.
This didn't make any sense, what kind of a man was Edward, how could anything made of flesh and blood be so utterly invincible and powerful?
"LAN FAN!" Ling screams from nearby, as I see he had gotten up and was now facing down the shocked Edward, who turned to face his revived combatant.
Ling Yao
After having managed to snap out of my daze, I saw that Fu and Lan Fan were down, and Lan Fan was bleeding!
"NO, LAN FAN!" I scream again, focusing my attention on Edward, and feeling my anger rise and rise.
"Da hell…I put you down, how are you still up!" Edward asks with shock and anger, causing my fury to be fueled further. I couldn't understand it, but I felt like I was being consumed with rage too, my wrath and indignation boiling over as my entire body inexplicably filled with power and energy.
"What the…your Ki is growing, you've somehow…(Chuckle) now I see, so that's how you're still awake, your subconscious has already become accustomed to the new body" he smirks, his words barely reaching me as my rage kept growing. A few moments later, I felt my control slip completely, and I charged at him with all my might, my speed so great my feet didn't even feel as though I was touching the ground.
"LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" I scream, as I fly at him with all my might, strange light glowing around me for some reason. Just before I hit him though, he sidestepped out of the way, and I kept going till I hit a wall face first, my head exploding with agony, then blacking out an instant later.
Edward Elric
Growling in annoyance, I levitated toward Scar, and saw that Pride had kept him restrained this whole time.
"Good job kid, I oughta be paying you for the level of loyalty I'm getting here" I say with a smile as I finally face Scar, knowing now that all opposition had been quelled, and I could finally do it. Creating the crimson Ki sword again, I held it up once more, preparing to finally slaughter Scar.
"Ahhh, at last, we get to execute the Ishvalan, go ahead and do it Mr. Reaper" Pride says with a smile.
"Hey, remember, he's only getting this treatment cause he's a big time murderer, just because he's an Ishvalan doesn't mean squat, its what he's done that earned him this fate Pride" I reply, causing him to nod.
"Yes sir Mr. Reaper, I know" he replies obediently.
"Hey…that's right, I do rather embody death with all this power, that means you get an extra special treat Scar" I laugh as I reform my Ki sword, into a Ki scythe.
"Prepare to get what's been coming to ya for 7 years powder hair!" I shout as I hold the scythe up high and prepare to strike down Scar at last.
"STOP THIS!" a familiar voice screams as he extends his huge green fist into my arm, making me lose my concentration and destabilizing the Ki scythe causing it to vanish. Turning my head, I saw it was indeed who I thought I'd heard that had halted my progress for the umpteenth time; Envy.
Envy
After having watched the whole fight, I saw exactly what Ed had said he saw in me before. Hatred; pure, unfiltered, uncensored, and unforgiving, inimical, wicked hatred and rage. I couldn't let someone like Ed ever turn into that kind of monster, it just wasn't right, something had to be done. Upon having gotten his attention, I walked in front of Scar and reverted back to my androgynous teen form, then into my true form, towering over Scar protectively as I looked Edward in the face.
"Edward, you have to stop now, everyone is in agreement that the best thing to do is for you to spare Scar's life so you don't get consumed by hate like he was, and worse, destroy everything you care about" I argue, causing him to roar and slap me in the jowls, the pain very intense for what had seemed like such a light blow when he first began to swing his hand.
"Scar doesn't get a second chance, murderers like him are the worst kind of criminals; sure maybe the two people he never meant to kill is something he regrets, but that doesn't change the fact that he doesn't regret killing all those alchemists, or the little girl Nina Tucker! Monsters who take innocent lives are as good as hamburger meat in my book, now outta my way Envy, I'm executing him now!" he screams angrily as he reforms the scythe and raises it above his head again. Damn it! I wish I knew how to reach him, make him understand that he shouldn't give up on this guy so quickly, compared to him, I was the monster of the two of us and…
Then it hit me, I knew what I had to do, I knew how to snap Ed out of his madness.
"THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO EXECUTE ME TOO PIPSQUEAK!" I shout, causing Edward's eyes to widen with shock. Shrinking back down to my androgynous form again to emphasize my seriousness, he floated down to his feet and kept looking at me with a horrified expression on his face.
"What?…that's crazy Envy; you've changed, you even had signs you wanted to change when we met, you're nothing like Scar, not at all" he says with shock, shaking his head as he lowers the scythe to his side.
"Nothing like Scar huh? Maybe this will convince you to remember the truth" I snap as I begin to shift my form back into the one I'd taken over 7 years ago.
"No…it can't be, he looks just like…-"
"The soldier who started the Ishvalan War" Edward mutters, cutting off Scar, as they both stared in shock and awe.
"Yeah, the guy who nearly caused the total genocide of the Ishvalan people by impersonating this soldier and killing the child" I state, causing Edward to tighten his grip on his energy scythe.
"that's right, it was you, I can't believe I almost forgot about how you were before" Edward drones mindlessly.
"You, you did this, you almost caused the annihilation of my entire race; all my family and friends, my brother, all because of you!" Scar asks indignantly as he struggles to break free of his restraints.
"Yes Scar, it is I who has to blame for all your sorrows and misery. It was due to my cowardice and refusal to disobey Father that you became what you are today. Once upon a time, I tried to ignore that gut wrenching feeling I had from killing that child, and causing the war that killed countless more, but after Edward and I talked a few weeks ago, he gave me a chance for freedom, to change who I was and get revenge on the rat bastard who made me into a tortured killing machine. I don't know if any amount of repayment or deeds can make up for the atrocities I committed, but I do know this, if a guy with just over a dozen people's blood on his hands doesn't deserve another chance, then certainly I don't, a thing with the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives staining his hands" I explain, as I kneel down before Edward on one knee to await his choice.
"If you're gonna execute Scar, then you have to execute me first, I'm the real bastard here, so I deserve to die too" I continue as I lay on my stomach, awaiting my imminent fate, though I hoped Edward would get a clue and snap out of it, I'd grown to be rather fond of my new friends, I'd prefer to live a long time now.
"So go ahead, destroy me now, like you should have done the moment we re-met after you gained this new power. Just do it, get it over with, kill m-"
"STOP!" Edward chokes, his tone filled with sadness. Flipping back onto my feet, I saw that he was crying, and that his face was streaked with tears. Without warning, the Ki scythe vanished with a hiss, and he fell to his knees, his eyes and nose leaking with fluid.
"How could I forget that promise I made when I started my journey; I'd sworn I'd never kill anyone, good or bad, that I'd leave it up to the judicial system, has my new power clouded my mind this much that I'd consider killing my friend just because of what he used to be, even after having helped change him?" he mumbles as his hands tremble with horror.
"Kill the shape-shifting demon, he's responsible for-MMMPH!" Scar begins, till Pride uses his shadow hands to shut him up before he ruins the moment.
"Shut your big fat Ishvalan trap, you'll wreck Edward's epiphany! Thanks bro" I say to Pride, who nods, but mutters how he wishes he coulda seen more action than what had happened today.
"Edward!" Winry shouts as she rushes up to him and wraps her arms around his neck.
Edward Elric
As Winry held me tightly, she patted my head, then looked up into my eyes deeply, her orbs glittering like a beautiful freaking pensieve from that Harry Potter franchise Psyagon had mentioned during downtime in our training. As she stared into me, she held my hands tightly and brought our intertwined fingers up to my field of vision.
"Edward, I know you as well as Alphonse, we've been together since we were little kids, and if there is one thing I'm absolutely sure of, its that when you're in your right mind, you are not a killer, not now, not ever" she says softly, causing me to emit a small gasp. Then, she knelt back down and hugged me around the chest tightly, her warmth replacing the burning, hollow Ki I'd been filled with earlier during my rage, with my usual warmer, gentler energy.
"Show me, show me, yourself, show all of us here, who you really are inside, because I think I know you pretty damn well…Edward Elric" she says gently as she returns her gaze back to my eyes and strokes my cheek, causing my tears to resurge again. Unable to control myself anymore, I hugged her back, making sure to not squeeze too tightly and hurt her with my awesome power, but also making sure I poured out all my emotions and pain from the past few weeks into the hug, so she knew how much I'd struggled with this inhuman power.
She held back in response, proving she understood everything.
"I want to…no, I' am a defender, not a destroyer. I'm not a taker of life, I'm a protector of it, even of people with pasts like you, or even Envy and the other Homunculi" I say calmly as I keep hugging Winry. After a few more minutes of tenderness, I stood up and sighed.
"Pride, release Scar from the shadow bonding" I command, causing the eldest homunculus to nod and let go. Immediately, Scar got his hands up, apparently ready to use his destruction technique.
"Ok, there will be none of that, now stay still" I shout as I appear in front of him with a burst of speed, and transmute a pair of adamantium restraints that cover his entire hands, and some for his ankles too.
"Consider yourself our prisoner Scar, we have a lot to discuss when we get back to Rush Valley, and don't bother trying to deconstruct the cuffs, they're made of an alloy you know nothing of, so you're trapped" I say firmly as I hand him over to Greed.
"Sorry about being so rough earlier Al, I was kinda mad with power, literally (weak chuckle)" I reply, causing him to nod.
"Everyone else here, come on, we've got some traveling to do in a moment" I shout as I use my alchemy to begin converting the adamantium barrier I'd used to wall up the city with back into Ki energy, absorbing it into myself.
"YAY! My Edward is back, now you can dump the blonde bimbo and come with me to Xing so I can become the empress and-"
BONK!
"You're still a mouthy little brat, but I hope we can be friends once you wake up again and we've had a good long talk about my girlfriend" I say with a smile as I look at Winry after knocking May Chang out with a light tap before she can ramble further, causing Xiao-Mei to start growling.
"Al, keep May and the panda company, I gotta go grab the chimeras so we can get out of here" I say as he nods and takes Xiao-Mei and May into his arms.
"Pride, you get Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu; Greed and Envy, go get Yoki, he's still cowering over there behind that dumpster.
After several minutes, all my allies had been gathered, and Pride had begun to prep for transport. Gently putting Winry into the portal that was forming, I kissed her cheek and smiled.
"I'll see you in Rush Valley soon" I say gently as I wave her off. After sinking into the portal, that left me alone with Scar, and Yoki, who was still rattling with terror.
"Who…who are all you people, and how did Edward become such a beast?" Yoki stammers as his teeth chatter.
"Relax, it will all be explained once we've seen off Winry and head to Resembool" I say cheerfully as I pat Yoki's back.
"Resembool, in the east?" he remarks with surprise.
"Yep, my hometown, didn't know I was an country boy did ya?" I chuckle, causing Yoki to relax some.
"It will be nice to get fresh air out there, I've been in desperate need of it" he sighs, while Scar just grunts, annoyed at his predicament.
"Oh give it a rest dude, even if you could get out of those unbreakable cuffs, I'd put you down before you can blink, you'd be out colder than the outer metal of Fort Briggs, so just chill or I'll make you" I warn, causing him to silence himself.
"HALT! This is the military police, we have you surrounded!" the voice of Roy Mustang announces, as we find ourselves covered on all sides by soldiers.
"Oh, its that dude I heard about from the Fullmetal punk, Royce Mustard" I laugh, causing the colonel to pop a vein with fury.
"MUSTARD? HOW DARE YOU INSULT A MILITARY OFFICIAL YOU BASTARD!" he screams angrily.
"(Chuckle) Mustard, that's actually pretty funny, for a psychopathic murderer, he's got a good sense of humor-"
"SHUT UP ARMSTRONG OR I'LL HAVE YOU COURT MARTIALED FOR INSUBORDINATION!" Roy screams.
"Ulp, sorry; right then, prepare for a rematch monster, this time I won't fall so easily, and you'll witness the true power of my alchemy!" Alex gulps, quickly resuming his confidence as he faced me with his fists raised; man these two sure knew how to act for a crowd.
"Sorry gentlemen, but I don't have time to play, I've taken Scar as my prisoner, and no one can tell me otherwise, now if you'll excuse me, I shall be taking my leave, good day" I say with a bow as I put a hand on the shoulder of both Scar and Yoki.
"Hold it right there!" Roy shouts, causing all the men to cock their guns and point them at me.
"Oh what now?" I groan, giving Mustang a facial tick to let him know I wanted to know why he hadn't been more descriptive of how dangerous I was when mad to Central Command as the monster man.
"We can't just let you walk away sir, our orders are to bring you in for trial, and then your fate will be up to the justice system of Amestris" Alex adds, causing me to sigh.
"You're gonna pay for what you did, a lot of our friends were in Central when you blew it up, we're taking you down" a random soldier cries angrily, causing many others to nod in agreement.
"Yeah, despite what they've said, you're not bulletproof, let alone bomb proof, that's just not possible, so you may as well surrender" another one adds. Immediately, I began to laugh, causing the soldiers to look at each other with a confused look, then back to me.
"Ahhh, oh you poor deluded fools; you mean you actually took the details from the report by the Führer himself as overblown rumors? Take a good look at my hair, my golden blonde hair" I say, causing them to start commenting on the soot in it.
"That's right, soot, and you know how it got there? From the explosion of a belt of 20 capsules filled with dynamite happening right in my face, that's right, I took a bomb blast to the face and all it did was mess up my hair color!" I shout, causing many to start getting scared, and gossip about how the rumors were true.
"Enough! We're all a little skeptical of your claims monster, so I bet you wouldn't mind if we tested them, right?" Roy says with a smirk, as he curls his fingers and signals men to bring in machine guns.
"You're enjoying keeping me tied down here aren't you Colonel?" I reply with a stonewall face, causing him to smirk.
"Relax, someone as powerful as you must have all the time in the world to spare; take aim men" he continues, causing the soldiers to prime the machine guns.
"FIRE!" Roy shouts almost immediately after, and I began to be pelted by gunfire, the shells impacting harmlessly on my Ki barrier, collecting like stickers.
After 2 minutes of continuous fire, Roy realized I hadn't been kidding when I bragged about being bulletproof, and he waved his hands and started to scream for a ceasefire. Unfortunately, having 12 automatic 50 caliber weapons going off at the same time rather ensures no one can hear you if your voice is just human in volume, even a screaming volume. So motioning to Alex, he had some supplies brought over, and the Strong Arm Alchemist transmuted a loudspeaker system. Picking up the microphone, Roy cleared his throat in preparation for his command.
"I GAVE THE CEASE FIRE ORDER 40 SECONDS AGO MORONS, NOW CEASE FIREEEEEEEE!" his voice bellows, echoing painfully in the ear of every human across the area, thank goodness I had the ability to withstand more sensory stimuli than humans now, or I'd be hearing ringing in my ears too.
"See? It was all a waste of ammunition" I reply from beneath a thin layer of deformed artillery shells, which then proceeded to flake off like dandruff, clattering to the ground ominously with light plinks, each ding making the soldiers more and more frightened.
"That's right, the rumors weren't rumors, they are true; I'm bulletproof, bombproof, fireproof, blade proof, hell I'm practically absolute in my invulnerability, it will take far more advanced or powerful weapons before you chumps will be able to harm me" I announce, making many begin to cower in terror. Smirking, I walked back over to Scar and Yoki, with the latter being scared out of his wits too.
"Alright, now seriously, I have to go, there are people waiting for me, so farewell for now men" I say as I put my hands back on Yoki and Scar's shoulders and begin to teleport us at last.
As we began to vanish with instantaneous movement, I smiled and announced, "Oh by the way, that incident here in Central a few weeks ago, that was all a big misunderstanding, I was disoriented and absorbed too much information at once, I'll try to make up for what I did one day, somehow"
With one last flash, we disappeared from view toward our destination, leaving every soldier but Roy and Alex very shocked and confused.