The Winged Alchemist: Blood Lines

Chapter Three: Angels and Demons

Edward opened his eyes slowly, not having realized he had fallen asleep in the armored vehicle he was escorted to. He looked around, squinting in an attempt to see through the dark. Usually it was no problem for him, but this was an unnatural dark. He furrowed his brows, about to growl when everything that had happened flashed in his mind. He closed his eyes again, allowing his head to hit the cold floor he was lying on. Winry… He thought about her fear filled eyes staring into his and his heart began to hurt. "I'm so sorry…Winry."

A terrible pain shot through his chest and he curled up into a ball, yelling out in agony. After what felt like hours, the pain subsided and he relaxed his now sore muscles, sweat lining his brow. He panted, the coolness from the floor becoming a reward for his hot and moist skin. "So it has begun." He winced, unsure if he had done so because of the sound of her voice or the growing headache he felt. Footsteps approached him, echoing off the walls. "You've been allowing that demon blood of yours free reign, Edward. It will be your end." The footsteps stopped right in front of his nose and he gritted his teeth.

"What do you want from me, demon?" The sound of the woman kneeling down made him cringe and a hand caressed his face, similar to Sabina. He jerked away, but whimpered as another streak of pain filled him. The woman sighed.

"I need your cooperation."

"I won't—give you any." He stammered, determined to fight no matter what. She sighed again.

"You should, considering Sabina isn't here to help you. I'm the best you've got right now." Edward's eyes managed to open and he blinked.

"What?" He could hear her positioning into a sitting position in front of him. Slowly, he hauled himself up and gasped at how sore his entire body was. He felt like he had been hit by a truck and then shot several hundred times.

"The pain your feeling is the demon blood. It's killing you. Literally." She told him. "You cannot see me, can you?"

"…"

"The darkness in your heart is clouding your senses. I am here to reverse it to the best of my ability." He glared towards the sound of her voice.

"Why the hell would a demon want to help me?"

"I don't want to help you. But I have no choice. I have a contract with that wretched angel." She spat, her more natural attitude shining through. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his hammering heart. Why wouldn't the pain dissipate?

"What are you going to do to me?" He asked her. She snapped a finger and light flooded the room. He flinched back, shielding his eyes by holding his arms up. After he adjusted, he stared horrified at his skin. It was blotched with black, his human skin pale and greying. He froze, unsure of what to do, what to say. She frowned.

"I don't have to do anything. It's what you have to do." He backed away from her, climbing to his feet and crossing the room to put space between them. She couldn't help but smile. "There's something Miss. Angelic forgot to mention when she gave you a dose of her blood the night you were dying."

Edward's golden eyes grew dark with anger.

. . .

"Winry?" Alphonse burst into his and Edward's dorm room, panic in his voice. He flipped the light switch and glanced the room over. At first, he thought she wasn't there until a small sob caught his attention in the corner of the bathroom. He carefully approached the girl, feeling his hopes fall. She was facing the corner, her head between her knees. She was crying and had her eyes squeezed shut with her hands covering her ears. He reached out, gingerly laying a hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, Winry jumped up, screaming as she backed away from him to the opposite side of the room, her eyes glazed over.

"Don't touch me…get away…." She mumbled, her whole body shaking. Al held his hands up.

"Winry, it's ok. It's me, Alphonse." He said calmly, keeping his voice low. She cringed at the sound of his voice and closed her eyes again, wrapping her arms around herself. He crouched down in front of her, holding his arms out. "Winry, please look at me." After a moment, she cracked open her eyes and stared into his. He nodded his helmet of a head, feeling his hopes lift a little bit.

"Al?" She said, her eyes becoming clearer. He nodded again.

"It's ok, now." In one swift motion, Winry collided into him, wrapping her arms around his metal body. He hugged her, surprised by her actions. She didn't care if he was hard metal. Metal was always a comfort to her. It was what she worked with and grew to love because of automail. Alphonse felt like home. Just like Ed's arms…

"NO!" She shrieked, everything coming back to her. Al kept her enclosed in his arms.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong! Edward—he killed all those people! Ripped them to shreds without hesitation. He turned into a monster!" She shouted at him, breaking out of his comforting embrace. He backed away this time at her words and shook his head.

"My brother is not a monster. He's battling something we don't know anything about. He needs us, Winry." She glared at him.

"NO! GRANNY'S DEAD BECAUSE OF HIM!"

Alphonse froze. Winry gasped at her own words and covered her mouth with her hands, fresh tears leaking down her cheeks. "Granny?" He whispered. He thought about when Ed had flown out the window and disappeared into the night, worry on his face. His urgency to leave and not telling him why. "What happened?"

"A man broke into our house and shot Granny! She's dead, Al! And then he came after me!" She cried out.

"But…but Ed must have saved you! He took you away from there!" He offered up, knowing he had to get through to her somehow. She was at her breaking point and her mind was twisting everything around because of her stress.

"He left her alone, Al. She's still bleeding out on the floor!" She began to grow angry and he took a step towards her.

"Winry, listen to yourself! This is Ed we're talking about! He would never have wanted any of this to happen. He's trying to keep us safe and battle what's inside of him! We can't understand that, so we have to support him in his fight." He pleaded with his eyes, wishing desperately that she would listen.

Winry turned and opened the door, fleeing the dorm room and attempting to escape her upside down life.

. . .

"She ran off, Colonel. I can't find her anywhere." Alphonse reported, ashamed he couldn't get through to his childhood friend. Roy looked at him from his desk and rubbed his forehead.

"Don't blame yourself. She saw something nobody should ever witness." He stared absent mindedly at the papers that were scattered before him. It had been 7 hours since Ed had been taken to Eastern and everything in Central was going about as if nothing ever took place. Nobody spoke of it; nobody lingered in the area where it all happened. Roy licked his lips and sighed, feeling extremely tired. "Al, I need you to go to Resembool and gather Pinako Rockbell's body. Lay her to rest and get everything cleaned up. Hell, hold a funeral. Winry's mind needs to be at ease about her grandmother. As does yours." He met the armor's glowing eyes and grew stern. "That's an order." Al put his head down, his fists shaking.

"What about my brother?"

"Don't worry about Ed. I'm already working on that." Al left the room, hesitating slightly at the door as if he wanted to add more, but changed his mind. Roy stood from his seat and walked to Hawkeye's desk, looking down at her paperwork. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Are those the maps of Eastern HQ?" She looked up at him and nodded.

"Yes, Sir." She neatly folded the maps together and tucked them away in her pocket. "I've memorized everything."

"Good. We leave immediately. Gather some men. We're gonna need a valid excuse to show our faces there. The Fuhrer will expect as much."

"Sir!" Riza saluted him quickly before rushing out of the room to do as she was ordered. Roy watched after her, unmoving. He tried to clear his head and think.

"Damn it, Ed. Why did you show that side of yourself to him?" He grumbled. Going back to his desk, he picked up a piece of paper and read it over. After he finished, he folded it up and stuck it inside his coat. "We'll be lucky if everyone lives through this predicament. Especially Ed."

. . .

"They call me Lee. I have no real name…not since I was turned into a demon almost a century ago. I won't go into detail about the woes of my life, but after I had my fun, I found this military and decided to have a little fun. I had heard about you and your…successions and grew quite curious. After a while, I found out about what you had become and here I am." Lee said with a bored tone, staring at a lock of her black hair she had twirled aimlessly around her fingers. Edward scowled at her.

"Wow…could you be more vague?"

"I could tell you nothing at all." She answered, giving him a testing look. He stuck out his lip and looked away, not replying. She walked around him in a circle. "If I am to reconnect you to your human side…rather, your angelic blood, I will have to train you to control your urges. It's not as easy as it sounds, either. This is going to be a painful ride for you, during which I need to make you understand what you really are."

"What do you mean?"

"Sit down at that table in the corner." Lee ordered. He shook his head. She glared at him, her eyes flaring a hideous yellow. "NOW." The power in her voice made him obey and he flopped down in a chair, slouching down and shoving his hands in his pockets. He felt like he needed a shower. His hair was greasy and he was covered in a mixture of dirt and blood. He would've gagged already if he hadn't gotten used to it.

"Ok, start talking." He snuck in, smirking under his bangs when she scoffed at him.

"When a demon injects venom into a human, the venom breaks down the immune system first. Then it attacks the organs, causing them to decay and causing a very excruciating death. But this is for the general population of those attacked. Now, for someone like you, the venom is counteracted with the blood of an angel."

"Blood?" Ed couldn't help but ask. He hadn't really thought about the mechanical process, even though that was part of his profession. He had lost quite a bit of himself since the incident a year ago. He didn't really know whether to believe science or magic or whatever anymore.

Lee nodded. "When Sabina found you, she cut a part of herself and bled into your wounds so that her blood would stop the venom from breaking down your body."

"So why am I going to die, exactly?"

"You're far too impatient." She growled. "I'm getting to it. Once demon venom comes into contact with angel blood, it actually creates its own antibodies and destroys the human's natural antibodies. Once they've all been replaced and blood has reproduced itself, the human becomes demonic. But not entirely. Your organs cannot change from that of a human to a demon. The organs begin to break down and kill the Dark Angel."

"This seems a little repetitive. To me it sounds like nothing changes." Edward spat. Lee clenched her fists and cracked her neck, a ripple of her demonic self passing through her.

"You are testing my patience, boy." She stopped directly in front of him and smiled, her teeth growing sharp. He felt his eyes widen as she leaned close to him, allowing him no room for escape. With lightning speed, she grabbed him and threw him to the ground on his back, straddling him. He struggled to break away from her grip, but she held him down without effort, holding his arms out to his sides. He bit his lip and watched as she leaned her lips down to his neck, talking against his skin. "Anger only speeds up the process of death. And once the demon blood completely destroys every human part of you, you will die…and become that of a demon entirely."

"…" He turned his head away as she licked his moist skin.

"A Dark Angel is not truly born unless the human is drained entirely of the demon blood and dies a human."

"What?" The blonde's breath began to hitch in slight fear as her teeth grazed his flesh.

"In order for the angelic blood to overtake the damage caused by the demon blood, you must die as a human. And this is how I get to help you." She bit into his throat and he screamed, pain enveloping him. He felt his blood flow freely as she bit down harder and deeper, tearing mercilessly at his flesh, muscle, and bone. As his body tried to heal, she stopped it each time with another vicious tear. Crimson engulfed the floor and soaked them both and he gurgled, choking on the warm liquid. For a moment, she stopped, listening to him suffer, his healing ability slowing down as he lay dying beneath her.

"Consider yourself lucky, Edward Elric. You could've ended up just like me. A wretched being from Hell, destined to destroy everything in its path, family, friends and all. We demons were all saved by angels, but we all died as demons, our humanity lost to us. You, Elric…You are the one truly chosen to die human and to come back as the Dark Angel."

In his final moments, Edward watched her lean back down, her mouth open and sharp teeth bared. He felt her final attack, ripping him to shreds….and then everything went dark.

Edward Elric was dead.

. . .

Winry ran through the streets of Central, heading to the train station. She had to get back to Resembool. She had to lay her grandmother to rest. Just the thought of her lying on the floor, everything exposed…it made her sick! She wiped away at her oncoming tears, reaching the platform to buy a one way ticket to her home. After stuttering through her purchase, she grabbed the small piece of paper from the woman's hand and darted for the train, jumping on the last caboose and curling up on the very first seat.

It wasn't long after that the door opened again and footsteps approached her. She looked up and gasped, fear filling her once more. Fuhrer King Bradley stood in front of her, a smile on his face. But he didn't grab her, nor did he move any closer. As she cowered away from him, he simply held out his hand to her and bent down graciously.

"Miss. Rockbell. I must apologize to you for what happened last night. I came here to talk to you about the situation." She shook her head vigorously.

"No! I don't want to be anywhere near you! Get away from me!" He kept his smile.

"Let me begin by saying that your grandmother's killer is in our custody and will be sentenced to death for her murder." Winry stopped, looking him in the eye.

"But…you planned that!" She shouted. He shook his head slowly.

"Simply a soldier who wished to branch away on his own, disobeying our rules. You see, he found out about your relationship to the Fullmetal Alchemist and decided it would be best to destroy you."

Winry stared at the man and stayed silent, unsure of what to say. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she felt like she was going to pass out. But the kindness radiating from the man before her was actually beginning to suede her and she allowed it. "Why are you here?" She asked him quietly.

'The Fuhrer sat down next to her on the seat, the train lurching forward as it began to move. "Winry, I need to talk to you about Edward and what happened. And I need your help."

. . .

Don't kill me! Sorry for taking so long to update. I was having some troubles coming up with this chapter, but here it is. This story is kinda gonna be messed up, but I will get to that. Winry will be brainwashed, Edward is dead, Alphonse goes missing, and Roy and Riza land themselves in some nasty trouble. As for Lee…well you may learn more about what she really is and why she's under contract with Sabina. Review!