DA: Heya! I'm backkkkk! And I think I've decided on a schedule. But I'll let you know all about that in the ending Author's Note cause I know you all just wanna get to the chapter. This one's an exciting one and I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: If I owned, the characters would hate me... I think they still do. Hehe

DA: Well... I forgot to mention last chapter, but this story uses intense language, including use of the word 'fuck'. I actually use it quite a lot. But I think it's too late to warn you about that... whoops. Anyways, this chapter has moderate gore so if you are weak of stomach, don't read. So enjoy the chapter!

Darkness to Dawn

Chapter 2

Ed strolled into the battle, appearing uncaring for the carnage around him. It was the same scene that he'd been seeing for the past few weeks; he was growing accustomed to it. The trio of soldiers Mustang had assigned him walked behind by a few paces, murmuring amongst themselves. He paused, analyzing the battle with sharp eyes, and sighed, placing his hands on his hips. "Some surprise attack this is... It looks as if we've been waiting here for days for this to get started," he commented smartly, scowling at the gunfire that peppered the soft ground nearby.

"Major Elric!" someone called, bringing his gaze over to a battle-weary soldier. The young man had a gun slung over his shoulder, waving furiously to catch the teen's attention. Rolling his eyes, he moved over to the soldier, carefully placing a look of exasperation on his face so no one could tell how affected he was by the battle. He would never get used to war, of that he was absolutely certain.

"What's the situation?" he asked, crossing his arms. The man looked pale, as if injured, or perhaps scared shitless. Knowing the way this war was going, probably the latter.

"Sir, there's a mechanized...thing... destroying our troops in the northwest corner of this area. We can't even get a man in there to touch it." Ed nodded sharply, turning towards the direction indicated.

"Then that's where I'm need most. Thanks, Sergeant." And with that said he sprinted off, leaving three confused soldiers in his wake. After a quick glance at one another, they followed, nearly tripping over themselves to catch up.

"HEY BOSS!" Havoc yelled at the top of his lungs, accidentally dropping his cigarette into the dirt, much to his chagrin. "WAIT FOR US!" Ed just grinned, glancing behind him at his group.

"Catch up with me there. Promise to leave some for you!" Havoc and Breda, having been with the kid before, rolled their eyes, pouring on the speed. Falman looked a little shocked, his pallor paling.

"Are you sure we should just let him go on alone?" he asked, eyebrows drawn together in worry. To that, the blond laughed.

"Nah," Havoc responded, smirking. "Believe us when we say he'll be just fine. We just need to worry that he won't leave any for us."

Ed heard them bicker but ignored them, focused on the slowly growing machine in the distance. That was his target and he had a feeling that it was bad news. However, it was only until he ran straight in the path of a rather large missile that was more than likely alchemically produced, that the alchemist understood the gravity of the situation. "Oh shit," he cursed under his breath, diving out of the way before any debris could hit him.

The creature stood nearby, its metal frame plated with flaking and rusting aluminum casing. A rather thick hand swung around, knocking several soldiers that were trying to break through to it several feet away. In its mouth, a missile launcher replaced what would have been a tongue had the thing been even close to resembling a human. The eyes glowed red, much like another person that Ed knew very very well. Alchemy was buzzing all around, causing the boy to twitch. Just like he'd thought, bad news.

Blood tainted the quality of the air, polluting it with its thick metallic scent. Soldiers lay wounded every which way, creating a cacophony of terrible sounds. One whimpered next to his feet, a rather large piece of shrapnel lodged in his gut. Coppery liquid pooled around the point of entry, spilling to the already soaked ground. Another had no head and half a body, blood sluggishly draining from the remaining parts. Chunks of someone's small intestines were scattered around the area. Ed swallowed harshly against the bile that raced up his throat and looked away, focusing instead to the cause of all these problems.

"Cover me guys," he ordered at his back, knowing instinctively that his soldiers were there, and ran off again, clapping to transmute his automail blade. Bullets sprayed from behind him as he approached the enemy line, effectively cutting a safe path through the soldiers. Without even pausing to show his gratitude, he continued on through. Clapping again, he transmuted the ground beneath him to a set of stairs that led straight to the head of the mechanical beast, the dirt dipping at his feet.

Here, the feel of active alchemy was stronger, making Ed's skin crawl. An arm crashed into his created stairs, the resulting shock wave throwing the teen off balance. Only a quick transmutation saved him from certain death. Shit, that was too close. He needed to pay closer attention to the machine's movements; another slip up like that could destroy him. And there was no way in hell he was going to die before the bastard Colonel.

As he ran, golden eyes scanned the creature. It was running off alchemic power; he needed to find either the alchemist or the transmutation circle, either of which had to be nearby. Suddenly, it turned on him, the cannon in its mouth glowing with power. Eyes widening, he erected a wall in front of him as the missile crashed directly into it, a shudder running from it into his body, which he had tightly pressed to the structure. He sagged to the ground, gasping for air. His gaze remained glued to the floor as another explosion rocked the wall. He'd found the circle alright, not that it was a good thing. Smiling grimly, he deconstructed the wall, staring into the eyes of the machine. Oh, this would be fun.

Ed launched himself at the beast, grasping onto the nearest handhold, its chest plate. Great. Tightening his grip, he hauled himself up and latched onto the next hold, wincing as the metal cut into the skin of his flesh hand. Cries of ceasefire echoed up to him as he climbed, but that didn't stop a stray bullet from grazing his side. That was going to hurt like hell later, but he didn't have the time to think about that right now. He kept moving, avoiding both gunfire and the flailing arms of the creature he was climbing. Oh yea, soreness was inevitable once he got back to camp. "I'm going to fucking murder the bastard," he grumbled, occupying himself with the pleasant thoughts of how he would torture his superior at a later date.

Finally, he reached the opening of the mouth and, hauling himself into it, rubbed his now bleeding hand. Mustang would pay. Today was supposed to be his damn day off and here he was, bleeding all over the mouth of a fucking machine in search of a transmutation circle that would shut the entire damned thing down. Oh, yea, the circle. Without even a second thought, he clapped and pressed his hands to the missile launcher, watching with glee as the thing melted away. Then, in one fluid movement, he thrust his blade into the heart of the circle, twisting it around for effect. The effect was immediate, the machine shuddering to a stop. Ed could almost feel the alchemy leech from the air, relieving him to no end, but also worried him. It couldn't be this easy. It never was this easy.

And, of course, the mechanical beast chose that moment to shake itself to pieces now that it no longer had anything holding it together. Growling something inaudible under his breath, he quickly transmuted the available materials into a makeshift platform and gently eased it to the ground next to the rubble. As the blond stood, dusting off his clothes, he came to the sudden realization that he was in danger. "Freeze, Alchemist!" a voice yelled, the accent distinctly Cretan. He quickly glanced around, noticing the guns pointed at him. Well, fuck... It was one thing after another with these guys wasn't it? Discreetly placing his palms together, he held his hands up, a smirk tracing across his features.

"And what is it you guys want exactly?" he questioned, molding the molecules in the air. He'd learned this trick from Mustang, but never really had a chance to use it before. The man who had spoken was trembling like a leaf, skin red and flaking from being in the hot summer sun for far too long. The soldiers behind him seemed to have more nerve, a hard glint in each of their eyes, a killer's glint.

"Just come quietly Alchemist. We have you surrounded." Ed rolled his eyes and, deeming the transmutation complete, clacked the fingers of his automail hand together, creating a spark. The air around them exploded, the blond himself not quite excluded from the blast. He dove backwards, the skin on his right side boiling from the heat. Hissing, he pressed his blessedly cool left hand to the injury and surveyed the carnage around him. Most of the soldiers in front of him had scattered, making it easier for him to pick them off as he saw fit. Huh. That meant he was going to have to thank the bastard upon his return.

"Boss, you alright?" Havoc called, appearing at the boy's side. About time they showed up.

"Just fan-fucking-tastic," he responded in a low growl, straightening with a wince. Damn burn.

"We saw the blast," Breda said, walking up to his other side, scanning the area with a critical eye. "Damnnn. I gotta learn alchemy one of these days."

"Was that the Colonel's technique?" Falman asked, kneeling next to a burned corpse. Ed nodded, raising an eyebrow.

"Yea. Improvised a bit though. It's not too hard to copy his technique when you've seen it a few hundred thousand times." The man just nodded, smiling a bit, and continued his inspection of the now dead soldier. Havoc crouched down so his face was level with the alchemist's injured side, gently peeling away the hand pressed against it.

"Hard enough to learn though. It seems you burned yourself pretty good. And you're bleeding?" The blond subconsciously rubbed the injured appendage, scowling.

"How about you try and scale a huge mechanical monstrosity with just your bare hands and see you come away unscathed?" Havoc rolled his eyes and continued to investigate the extent of the burn, fingers none too gently prodding at the abused flesh. Ed distracted himself by watching Falman do checks of each body that hadn't been too badly burned. Only he caught the movement of one of the soldiers, a subtle tightening of a hand around a weapon. "Falman, look o-" The man looked up at his cry and a hand shot out, catching him in the thigh with some sort of device. He tensed in shock, convulsed for a moment, and passed straight out, eyes rolling back into his head and slumping backwards in a dead faint. "FALMAN!"

The attacker heaved himself into a sitting position with a wince, staring in awe at the weapon in his hand. "Damn," he whistled, clearly impressed. "The new weapons the Brigadier General gave us have quite a bite to them." He looked around, scanning his teammates. "Hey, you guys alright?" Much to the shock of the Amestrians watching, other members of the enemy started to stir, fingering strange devices of their own. Ed straightened from his slightly hunched over position, his still freely bleeding hand clamping over his burned side. He knew that had been too easy.

"Ed," Havoc whispered in his ear, strangely focused. "What's going on?"

"Trap," he breathed, shifting slightly onto his automail foot with a slight hiss in pain. Shit, that was right. He had a bullet graze on his other side, which was bleeding pretty heavily at this point. "We need to charge. On my count." The older man's hand rested on his gun, his gaze never leaving the men in front of them. Breda moved quietly, tensing as if ready for battle. "Three." Havoc flicked the safety off on his gun, finger curling around the trigger. "Two." Ed shifted his automail foot back, ready to pounce. "One." And they ran into the mess of people, all of which were getting up, and, for the most part, prepared for battle.

Thankful for the blade he hadn't deconstructed yet, he blocked a soldier's rifle as it swung towards his head and sliced off the nose of the gun. In one fluid movement, he bounced back and shoved one metal foot in the man's face, effectively knocking him out. Hearing a click behind him, he glanced back, golden eyes wide at the gun barrel aimed directly at his head. The blond leaned away as the man fired, the bullet whizzing by his face, burning the skin of his cheek. "Shit!" he yelped, clamping a hand over the injury.

"Ey! Careful there Sergeant! We need him alive, not dead," another called from behind him. Twirling around, he found himself surrounded, enemy soldiers pressing in on all sides. Fuck, not good. His vision was starting to blur, blood loss making his head spin. If this lasted any longer, he wouldn't be able to transmute anymore. A tall man grabbed him from behind, circling his arms around the boy's shoulders. Jerking his head back, he rammed the perpetrator in the nose, causing him to let go. Another made a go at him from the front; he was easily disposed of as he slid down to knock the man's feet from under him. Dirt crusted into his cut side, pain making him woozy. Dammit, he needed to finish this quick.

"Breda!" he vaguely recognized Havoc's voice as it called out to their partner. A gunshot rang out and Ed saw in terrifying slowness as it entered the man's thigh, near his knee. Blood spurted out from the wound, the man attached collapsing to clutch the injured flesh. In the next moment, one of the strange weapons collided with Breda's neck, causing the man to fade out just like Falman had not even ten minutes earlier. Ed staggered to his feet, trying to rush over to the man. Cretan soldiers blocked him in every way, bullets flying over his head as more creative weaponry, such as a hunk of metal from the machine, made attempts at his other limbs. The man who had grabbed him before caught him again, tackling the boy to the ground. The alchemist bucked, making attempts to force the man off of him, but he couldn't budge. His attacker had a heavy kneed lodged in his back and his hands pinned at his sides. He snarled and swore, his entire body flailing in an attempt to get free.

With a sharp bang, the hold on his arms loosened and something heavier collapsed on top of him, a hot and wet substance seeping into his hair. A hand closed in on his arm and helped him squirm out from under the enormous load. Jean Havoc's gun was smoking, his eyes hard and worried. "You alright?" he asked quietly, sapphire eyes quickly scanning over his form.

"'m fine," Ed grumbled, keeping his eyes specifically away from the body of his assaulter. In all honesty, he was weak and trembling and grime coated him from head to toe. But getting out of here was their first priority. "We need to get Falman and Breda and get the hell out of here." The statement was murmured under his breath and the older soldier had to lean in to hear it.

"No. Out of the question. We're gonna get you out of here and then I'll call a back-up team in to get Falman and Breda. I was ordered by the Colonel to protect you and honestly, I'm more scared of him than I am of you. Sorry boss." Those liquid golden eyes hardened into a dark bronze, the glare fierce. Those eyes promised trouble and pain, lots of pain. "Honestly, Ed. Your glares mean nothing when I'm facing a court martial if I disobey the almighty Colonel. I once saw him commit a man for looking at Hawkeye the wrong way." Ed's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, a deep scowl cutting across his pale face.

"I don't care what the bastard wants you to do. I can't leave a man behind. So you can leave with me or without me. I don't care in the slightest." Suddenly, the teen's eyes widened sharply and he yanked Havoc aside just as a bullet tore through the area where the man's head had been. Dropping the man the moment the danger passed, his hand clamped over the graze from earlier, fresh blood oozing through his fingers. Swift hands pulled his off the injury and a string of curses permeated the air.

"Dammit, Ed. Say something the next time I ask if you're ok." Ed rolled his eyes, keeping sharp attention to the gathering group around him.

"It's just a graze, Havoc. Leave it be. Now's not the time." Sighing in exasperation, the soldier frowned and stood, cocking his gun in preparation for battle.

"Give us the alchemist and no one else gets hurt," one of the Cretan men ordered, his brown eyes narrowed over the barrel of his shotgun. "We'll even let the other two go." With that addition, the man, a captain by the looks of it, smirked at the pair, his gaze solely on Ed. The alchemist gave his partner a sidelong glance, his eyes darkening considerably over the arrangement.

"Don't even think about it," Havoc hissed at the boy, taking aim at one of the enemy. The look Ed threw him could be considered a cocky smirk, but it was gone to fast for him to analyze it.

"Just watch and learn." Slapping his hands together, the blond slammed them into the ground, watching the ground buck and heave at his will. Several members of the group surrounding them fell to the ground, off balance, others were captured in giant stone fists. But as quick as it started, it ended, and Ed was gasping for air, his limbs trembling beneath him. "Maybe I went overboard," the smoker thought he heard the boy say faintly.

Ed willed himself to his feet, painting his smirk across his face. He was exhausted, but that didn't mean he was going to let it show. His vision flickering, he charged into the group, brandishing the blade on his right arm. He heard Havoc's gunshots somewhere nearby and soldiers fell, their blood arching into the air. His blade cut through into flesh, the sensation sending chills up his spine. A familiar shout arose from the crowd of people. "Freeze, alchemist!" For once, he did as was told, turning in the direction of the voice. The speaker emerged from the crowd, a struggling Havoc in his grasp. He had an arm tightened around the soldier's throat, a gun pressing into his scalp.

"Come quietly and I won't have to pull this trigger," he taunted, his finger curling around the piece of metal that would end the lieutenant's life. Ed frowned, paling even further at the situation. His eyes glanced around, first to Falman, sprawled out on the dirt, then to Breda, bleeding and unconscious, and lastly to Havoc, trying to spit out curses over the arm tight around his trachea. His breaths quickened; there really was no other choice.

"Will you leave the others alone as well?" he finally asked, swallowing. The Cretan smiled, the expression cruel and disgusting.

"Yes. Just turn yourself over to us." Giving one last look around, as if to try and find a final way out, Ed sighed, deconstructing his automail blade.

"Fine. Just let Havoc go." And let him go he did. The gun collided harshly with the back of the blond soldier's head, the dull thud sounding a bit louder to the victim's ears than to everyone else. He went down like a sack of potatoes, all motor control lost to him. His vision went grey and fizzled in and out like a crappy car stereo. But he was treated to the sight of three men grabbing Edward, yanking his arms behind his back as another pulled out one of those devices. It slammed down on the young alchemist's collarbone and he went limp,his mouth open in a soundless cry. The other two supported him, their hands hooked under his arms. And that's when his eyes failed him and he knew no more. The Colonel was going to kill him, skip the court martial and shish kabob him.

DA: Well, first battle completed. You'll have to tell me what you think about my writing style for the battle, seeing as I'm always so paranoid about battle scenes... Actually, I'm paranoid about my writing style period. Heheh. And for those of you who were surprised at how dark this story is, it gets darker from here. A lot darker.

I'm taken aback by the response this fic has gotten so far. Seven reviews in the first four or five days that it was posted. That's a record for me and I'm eternally grateful to all of you. I won't ask for a set number of reviews before I post each chapter because personally, I think that's just mean. But it still would be nice if you reviewed. It does help quite a bit with my inspiration.

Did I forget anything? Oh yes, my updating schedule. Hehe. I've decided that I'm going to post on Fridays (In the USA if I have any foreign readers), between the times of 2PM and 7PM EST. I told a few of you that I was going to do this on Saturday, but I decided against it. I dance competitively and well, I have quite a few competitions on Saturday and that would mess with my updating schedule and no one wants that. If I can't update on Friday, I should know the week prior and I'll let you guys know. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Love you all!

May your hearts stay strong,

DarkAngel555

(If you want to follow me on tumblr, my URL is darkangelbk201)