And chapter 5... I'm updating like a fiend. Don't expect updates like this every day. Now, I came to a starteling realization, my chapters are getting smaller and smaller. Therefore, you have a 3K plus chapter folks!
On with the story.
Ed stood in the Death Room, not quite sure why.
"So, Skully, care to explain why I'm here? I'm supposed to be getting my revenge on my car."
Lord Death stood there. "That cathedral is over 150 years ago, built to honour the gold healer. You said you hadn't seen it since it was foundations, that was 150 years ago. Care to explain?" Ed's eyes narrowed.
"Alright, but you explain why Maka's leg wasn't broken, and why you had Her, Kid, Stein and Spirit in here. By the way, Spirit wipes his boogers on the back of your mirror."
Lord Death tilted his mask before shifting over and looking at the back of his mirror. Sure enough there were enough snot to cake the back of it.
"Anyways, the reason I had you go was to test your skills. Maka and Soul needed a break anyways. Now, back to the cathedral?"
Ed sighed. "What reason do I have to trust you? You lied to me about the mission." There was a bit of silence, Ed contemplating.
"Alright, I'll tell you my age. I'm 211 years old. If you looked hard enough you could probably track my progress through life starting in the east. And yes, that temple was constructed for me, as much as I said no. Course I left when people decided they were going to go around the town and ask about me." Lord death nodded.
"Well, that's interesting. I sent those people to look, after all, if a person is doing magic, we want to know about it." Ed nodded.
"So, could you tell me how you healed those people of that sickness?"
Ed's eyes narrowed and frowned. "Nope. Not nearly enough trust there yet." Ed had obviously finished the conversation. He turned and left the death room, leaving the grim reaper to call someone.
"Hello Lord Death, what can I do for you?" asked the form of Spirit, appearing on the other side of the mirror.
"I need you to help me with something, get over here Immediately."
"Roger sir!" the mirror winked off, leaving Death to his devices. He brandished his hand, sharpening it on a nearby grinding wheel.
Ed walked down the hall of the school, heading for his room. The mission, while being easy, brought some things to mind.
First, what exactly was this black blood. From what he heard, it was a sword melted down into a black liquid and used to replace the blood of an infant. While cruel, the idea was genius, in a sadistic way.
Second, why, if this... girl... had so much power, did she seem so hesitant in everything she did? Surely that much power should instill some sort of confidence?
Third, what gender was that person?
Shrugging, Ed turned the corner... and didn't crash into Medusa.
He crashed into Spirit. Fortunately, Spirit was knocked out, his body lying prone on the ground.
"Ahh, Spirit, let's get my revenge done, shall we?" Ed asked in sadistic glee. Spirit just lay there, oblivious to what was about to happen.
Medusa just happened to be turning the corner when she saw Ed dragging Spirit by the collar, a grin on his face.
"Edward?" she asked.
"Just a bit of revenge, he blew up my car." She watched he dragged the death scythe down the hall to one of the empty living quarters.
Lord Death was sharpening his hand still when Spirit walked in. He had no hair, was wearing a pink lederhosen, and had his nails painted bright pink. Across his face was a tattoo, stating something about his inbreeding.
"What happened to you?" asked Lord Death.
"I blew up his car," was his only reply. Lord Death grinned behind his mask.
"Well, he got his revenge, I'll get mine." He brandished his now sharpened hand. "Never wipe your boogers on the back of my mirror," he said menacingly. Spirit paled.
"Oh shit," was his only reply. The grim reaper let the most painful series of reaper chops in existence onto the death scythes head.
Ed was quietly walking down the hall, having deposited blackmail photos into his newly purchased fire safe when he heard some more screaming.
"Yeh, I guess Spirit is getting punished for the boogers," grinned Ed, heading for his room. He turned the corner and saw Medusa approaching.
"Oh, hello Edward, how was your revenge?" asked the nurse.
"Good, I've got photos of it. Spirit is getting payback from Skully for leaving boogers on his mirror." Medusa nodded, a bit grossed out at boogers on a mirror.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Ed hadn't actually thought about it. He could put some more research into a way of returning, but then he remembered that just under 200 years would have still passed. No point returning to someplace where everyone you knew is dead.
"I don't know, it's Sunday, only half the day is over, I've got nothing planned, do you?" Medusa thought about it.
"No, not really, I'm still on call so I have to be in the clinic. Do you want to have coffee?" she asked.
Again, Ed hesitated. He knew he couldn't get to close to anyone, but something about Medusa made him happy, made him sleep better at night. Besides, would coffee hurt all that much?
"Sure, I've just got to deposit this new fire safe with the blackmail photos at my room, then I'll hop over to the clinic?"
"Nah, bring the photos, I never liked Spirit, always hitting on me. I want to see the photos." Ed shrugged, readjusting the box beneath his arm.
The two headed for the clinic, talking idly about different stuff. She seemed interested in his mission, asking about the weird person with black blood.
When they got there the clinic was empty, the air smelling of laboratory cleaner. They went into her office, Ed taking a seat on the other side of the desk. Medusa began pouring coffee from a pot.
"So, you said you had pictures of Spirit?" she asked, handing him some coffee.
"Yes, very funny ones. When he woke up he was in a lederhosen, little did he know he was in a variety of outfits before that." Ed pulled the safe out from under his arm, unlocking it and handing her some photos. She was sipping when she looked at them. In a cough, the mouthful of coffee was launched across the room.
"Oh my god these are awesome! I don't want to know what his reaction would be. Actually, yes I would."
The two of them looked over the photos, laughing and talking. They spent the better part of an hour doing this when there was a beeping noise.
Medusa pulled out a pager. "Damn, some kid sprained his ankle, I've got to go take care of this. If you want to wait here, I shouldn't be more than twenty minutes." Ed nodded, Medusa getting up and grabbing a first aid bag. She left the office, leaving Ed to his devices.
Looking around, he saw it was a plain office. There was a radio, no doubt to talk with helicopter pilots arriving at the city, her desk, two book shelves, and a coat rack. The desk had little on it in the way of personal affects.
-Hello? Anyone there? This is transport 4 with a medical emergency!-
Ed saw the radio crackling, the voice repeating. Ed looked around. Medusa had just left, but she was probably out of earshot. Walking over, he picked up the radio.
"Yeh, I read you, what's the situation?"
-Scythe Meister Maka Alburn and her weapon soul are flying in. Soul sustain a vertical slash from left shoulder to right hip approximately 1 and half inch deep.-
Ed paled. A would like that would be fatal.
"Transport 4, do you know what made this wound?"
-I'll put Scythe Meister Albarn on for a description.- Static was broadcasted before the voice came over. Ed noticed the voice was barely holding itself together, threatening to break down into tears.
-S-soul was injured when he protected me. He stood in front of a slash from a sword m-made of hardened b-black blood.- The voice dissolved into sobs, quickly disappearing.
-That's all were going to get from her.-
Ed groaned. He didn't want to do this, it wasn't his clinic.
"Alright, land in front of the school and bring him to the clinic, he'll be treated when you bring him here." There was a roger from the other end before the conversation ended.
Ed groaned again. All because he was having coffee.
Medusa chose that minute to walk in.
"Hey, turned out the kid just rolled his ankle so... you ok?" Ed quickly relayed the information to her.
"Well, that could be a problem. Help me set this place up for treatment." Ed nodded, helping her prep a bed and medical equipment. Ten minutes later the doors flew open, Soul lying on the bed covered in blood, bandages failing to stem the flow of blood.
"Alright, let's get him on the table, I'll have to clean the wound and stitch it up, providing it isn't too deep." Stein and Medusa worked on the youth, Ed in the corner with Maka and Lord Death. He could tell this wasn't going well.
Over the past 10 minutes the heart monitor was getting slower and slower, blood pressure was lowering. Obviously he was going to die.
"Shit, there goes any secrecy I wanted," he muttered to himself. Turning to Lord Death, he began.
"Skully, if you let me, I can save him, but I'll need everyone out of here, including the nurse." Lord death considered this.
"Nurse Medusa, I'll need you to leave, same with you Stein and Maka." Medusa gaped at him, momentarily stunned. A look from Lord Death made her nod hesitantly. Stein gave the reaper a dirty look, while Maka was unresponsive.
The group left Ed and the unconscious form of Soul alone.
When they got outside, Death was bombarded with questions.
"Why, what is he going to do?" asked Stein.
"Quiet, the gold healer is going to work." Death stared at the door, while Stein and Medusa tried to remember who the gold healer was. Maka had her ear pressed to the door and could hear everything. Stein spoke up.
"He was the one that cathedral was built for, wasn't he?" Lord Death just nodded.
Red light streamed out from beneath the door frame.
Ed sighed. "Once again, I'm going to use the terrible power of the stone for good, Truth I hope this works."
He placed his hand on Soul's forehead, his metal hand over the wound.
Powerful red lightning flew from his hands, striking the body of the weapon, the limbs shaking.
Soul found himself standing in front of a set of grey double doors, an endless white void around him.
"I wonder where I am?" he said.
"The gate of Truth," answered a voice. Soul turned around to see Edward Elric.
"How did you get here?" he asked.
"You suffered a lateral slash from your shoulder to hip. I'm healing you with alchemy." Soul was quiet.
"Alchemy, the dead art of immortality and gold?"
"No, alchemy is not dead, at least in my world. The reason your here is because I'm using human souls to heal the wound. Hence, you get sent here. Don't worry, you won't go through, I think."
Soul was still confused. "So... what is this again?"
"The gate of Truth. The source of all alchemical power and knowledge. Once you see inside, you know everything about alchemy. But, at a price." As if to prove his point, Ed rolled up his sleeve, showcasing his metal limb.
"How right you are Mr. Alchemist," came a sing song voice.
"Truth, what are you doing here? You've never come here before when I healed a person, why now?" asked Ed, now facing someone behind Soul.
Soul turned around to see a smoky being.
"Easy, a message, offer, proposal, whatever you want to call it. Find the source of imbalance and you can go home, back to Amestris, 1 year from when you left." Ed froze. A chance to return home? Only a year from when he left? Impossible.
Soul was watching the exchange. He didn't know what was going on.
"Why should I believe you?" Truth laughed.
"How about this, I'll even give you incentive, your brother." Ed froze.
"His soul is in me, how are you going to offer that for incentive?"
"Easy Mr. Alchemist, the 'Alphonse' you know as a soul is just a copy. You did succeed in transmuting him, I just made a copy of his soul and put it in you. Call it 'planning ahead.'"
"So, if I get this imbalance and bring it to you, I can go home, 1 year from when I left. How do I know that the Alphonse inside of me is a copy?"
Truth grinned. "You don't. Now, the healing is done, I've delivered my message, now act on it." With a grin, Truth disappeared.
"Well, the healing is done, so you can go back to your body. And I would really appreciate it if you would shut up about what happened, just say you don't remember." Soul nodded dumbly.
Ed finished with the explosive red lighting, seeing the wound was healed. There was a scar, but that would remain, something about the cause of the wound.
He wavered, slightly dizzy, steadying himself against a chair. The door clicked open, revealing 4 heads on top of each other. Lord death on top, followed by Stein, Medusa, and finally Maka.
"It's done, he'll be asleep for a while. I'm just... just going to... lie down for a bit." Ed quickly let himself fall onto the nearby bed, slipping into unconsciousness.
Medusa ran over, first checking Edward out, making sure he was ok. Satisfied, she rushed over to Soul. After running a few quick tests and taking some blood she deemed him ok.
"What's weird is that wound should have taken weeks to heal," she muttered. Stein, Medusa and Maka were standing around Soul while Lord Death stood over Edward who was passed out.
"Thank you for healing him," was all the Death God said, his form... gliding... out of the room.
Ed woke up some time later in the clinic, lying in the exact same position as he was before. He sat up slowly, a headache pounding at his skull.
"Never again will I heal another person's injury like that, one thing to cure a sickness, quite another to heal a wound of that magnitude."
He stood up, wavering a bit before gaining his footing. He managed two steps towards the sleeping figure of Soul when a black and ash grey figure tackled him, sending his head into the corner of a table.
"OWW! HOLY GOD THAT HURTS!" Ed clutched his head as red sparks danced across, healing the small cut and skull fracture.
"Sorry, just – just wanted to say thanks," was the reply. Ed recognized the voice as Maka.
"Nah, no problem, just next time, thank me with a gentle hug, not a skull fracture. I may have a better healing ability than anyone else, but it still hurts." Maka nodded while Ed got to his feet, again, and checked Soul.
He was ok, breathing was normal, color seemed ok, all in all he did a bang up success.
"I don't suppose you could do that mirror thing with Skully? I need to talk to him." Maka nodded and pulled out a small pocket mirror. She fogged it up and scratched something into it. There was a ringing for a moment, then the face of the grim reaper appeared.
"Oh, hello Edward, you woke up I see?"
"Yeh yeh, I'm going to get to the point, gather all your most trusted staff, except Medusa, she'll have to keep an eye on Soul, I'll fill her in later. Also, call up Kid and Blackstar. What with that display I did I've no choice but to fill you in on my personal details." Lord death was shocked. This was new, he was going to give information on who he was?
"Certainly, meet me in the Death Room in an hour." The mirror winked off, leaving Ed holding a woman's mirrored compact.
"Well, you can stay here with Soul if you want, I'm going to get something to eat, used up quite a bit of energy." Ed walked off, occasionally swaying on his feet while he headed for the cafeteria.
1 hour later
Ed walked into the Death Room, all eyes suddenly on him. The occupants of the room were Lord Death, Sid, Stein, Spirit, Maka, Kid, Liz, Patty, Blackstar and Tsubaki.
"Well, I'll assume you know why your here?" There were nods of heads. Spirit was still scared of Ed and was sporting a head bandage from Lord Death.
"So, here's how this will work, instead of boring you with a story, ask me a question and I'll answer it. Begin."
Stein was the first to ask.
"How old are you exactly?"
"Two hundred and eleven years old. Next."
Blackstar decided to ask. "When we duelled and I kicked your leg, it felt like I was kicking lead, yet your other leg felt normal, why is that?"
Ed paused. He knew that question was going to come up. Sighing, he lifted his pant leg, revealing the metal limb.
"I have a fake let replacing my real one. It's advanced that you never noticed it before, except when you kicked me." The onlookers stared. Stein already figuring out ways to dissect Edward for his limb.
"Tell me, how did you lose it?" asked Tsubaki.
"...Trespassing on the territory of god." And cue the polite end of that question.
"How have you lived so long?" Ed looked at Stein. He could see the urge to dissect him.
"In my world we have a thing called alchemy. You know this as the family secret of mine. One of the things relating to alchemy is the philosopher's stone. Yes, you have a similar thing, but it was created cleanly and only meant for gold and immortality. It only achieved the gold part. In my world, the stone is an alchemical amplifier, created to bypass the laws of equivalence and providence. It's created using – using human souls. If you put one of these stones into a person and bond it to them, they gain longevity and increased alchemical power. I was the unwilling receiver of one. I contain enough souls that if I avoided dying too many times I could outlive the sun."
There was silence from the group.
"So, what was that about dying?" asked the Grim reaper.
"I can die, but I'm quickly revived. Any damaged flesh is replaced, and the connector of my fake limbs is regenerated, but not the limb itself."
"And what was that on the roof top when you were in Italy?"
"I absorbed the soul in a different manner, my stone turned the soul into a philosopher's stone with one soul, then it was absorbed. His soul now resides in my."
Maka asked the more human question that Ed wasn't expecting. "If you absorb the souls, aren't they still living? Do they die when you use alchemy?" Everyone nodded.
"Well, what I do is periodically I go through the souls, asking them if their ok with this situation. Those who want to die, or the batshit crazy ones I sort into a group that I use. Once the soul is used It's sent to the Gate."
This question and answer period continued for a few hours, the final result being that everyone was satisfied and knew the golden alchemist better.
[A.N.] There we go! It's chapter 5! I hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter, please review and as always, hope you enjoyed it.