Disclaimer: I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or the characters.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Conspiracy
Fullmetal Alchemist quote:
"We went to your house! We saw the floor! What was that? What did you do?"- Roy Mustang
"Talking"
Thoughts
Chapter 8: Human Transmutation
Edward sat in the mess hall at Central Headquarters bored out of his mind. The Colonel had called him here to give him his first mission, but Edward decided he didn't want to come when he was suppose to so he was late. And when he did arrive he couldn't see the Colonel because he was in a meeting. So now Edward was stuck waiting for the Colonel to get free. It was taking so long that Ed decided to go get lunch with his comrades.
Hawkeye looked at Ed and smiled. "It's your fault for being late that you are stuck here."
The youngest state alchemist ever slammed his head onto the table and sighed. "I know." He started coughing so he stopped talking.
"Are you okay, sir?" Hawkeye asked.
Ed waved his hand at her. "Yeah. Just not use to the smoke."
Hawkeye's eyes narrowed and she grabbed her gun. She clicked the safety off of it and pointed it at Havoc. "No smoking in Major Elric's presence. I don't need you giving him cancer from second hand smoking."
Havoc laughed nervously and put his cigarette out. "Yes ma'am. No smoking when Major Elric is around."
Laughing, Edward continued to eat his lunch. "Thanks, First Lieutenant."
As Hawkeye was nodding her head, Hughes came up to them. "Where is Roy?"
"He's in a meeting." Hawkeye answered. "Why?"
"There's been a murder." Hughes answered.
Edward looked up at him. "Murder? This is the military. Isn't it the police's job to solve murders?"
Hughes pushed his glasses up. "Normally the police would work on a murder case, but in this case they can't. The person who was killed was killed using alchemy. The military was asked to work on this case because alchemists are needed to solve the case. My team and Mustang's team are to work on this case together." [1]
"Does that involve me? The bastard was suppose to be giving me another mission to work on." Edward said.
"He'll probably have you help us on this case before he gives you your mission." Hughes replied.
Edward sighed. "Wonderful."
"What is wonderful, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked when he heard Edward.
Edward narrowed his eyes and stabbed his food with a fork. "Speak of the devil."
"There was a murder, Roy. Our teams are to work together to solve it." Hughes explained.
Mustang nodded his head. "Let's go then. Fullmetal, you'll help us on this case then I'll give you your mission."
"Whatever." Edward said. He stood up and followed the older officers out to the cars that would take them to the crime scene.
After driving for twenty minutes, the military officers made it to the crime scene. Edward got out of the car he was in and stretched his arms as the older officers got out and went into the house where the murder happened. He followed them and hanged around in the kitchen while the officers went downstairs to the basement.
"I'm not an expert on this type of alchemy." Ed heard Mustang say.
"Nor am I." Armstrong said.
Edward sighed and leaned on the counter, looking out the window. This is a waste of my time. Why do I have to be here? They don't need my help.
"Fullmetal!" Mustang yelled out of the basement to Ed.
The young alchemist glanced down the stairs. "What?"
"Get down here." Mustang ordered.
Sighing, Edward pushed off of the counter and entered the basement. "Why? You don't nee….." Ed stopped talking when he saw the array and misshaped corpse in front of him. His eyes widened as he stared at the misshaped creature in front of him. Memories of his human transmutation flashed before his eyes as his breathing became heavy and he fell to the ground.
"Fullmetal!" Mustang said.
Hughes kneeled next to Ed and checked his pulse. "He's fainted."
"Pathetic." Mustang said.
Hawkeye glared at Mustang and pulled her gun out, pointing it at the Colonel's head. "He's not used to seeing this kind of thing. You can't blame him."
"I didn't faint when I saw this kind of thing for the first time." Mustang replied.
"He's twelve. You were older than him when you saw something like this for the first time." Hawkeye said.
Mustang crossed his arms. "Whatever."
Hawkeye's eyes narrowed. "If you make fun of him because of this I will shoot you, got it?"
Mustang gulped and nodded his head. "Yes ma'am."
Edward whimpered in his unconscious state. "Mom….I'm s-sorry. So sorry…D-don't hate me. M-mom! I'm s-sorry."
"Ed?" Hughes questioned. He looked at Mustang, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Ed, wake up."
After a few minutes of crying out for his mom, Edward woke up staring into Hughes worried eyes. "What?"
"Are you okay?" Hughes asked.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Edward asked.
Hughes stood up and held his hand out for Edward, who took it and allowed Hughes to pull him up. "Well you passed out and started calling for your mom and saying you were sorry in you sleep." The major explained.
Edward bit his lip and looked away. "That was just a nightmare."
Hughes looked at him unconvinced, but shrugged his shoulders. "So do any of you know what this array is?"
Armstrong shook his head. "I've never seen an array like this."
"Neither have I." Mustang said. [2]
Edward sat on the stairs and stared off into space. He really didn't want to be here. This reminded him of his own human transmutation. A night he wanted to forget.
"What about you, Ed?" Hughes asked.
The young alchemist stared at Hughes with empty eyes. "Huh?" He said unintelligently.
"Do you know what this array is?" Hughes replied. Edward continued to stare blankly at him. The major sighed. "Ed, snap out of it." He slapped Ed's cheek a few times as he said this.
Edward growled in annoyance. "What?"
"Are you sure that you are okay?" Hughes asked.
"Of course I'm fine." Edward snapped. "What do you want?"
Hughes stepped away from the boy. "Sheesh! I was just asking. I want to know if you know what this array is."
Edward rested his head in his upturned hands that were resting on his knees and closed his eyes. "No."
"You didn't even look." Hughes said.
"I saw it before I fainted." Edward replied.
Mustang turned away from the array to looked at Edward. "You're lying. You barely saw the array before you fainted. That means that you know what the array is and only needed a glance at it to know what it is. Why are you lying?"
Edward opened his eyes and glared at Mustang. "I have my reasons."
"Forget your reasons and tell us what the array is so we can finish up here." Mustang growled.
The young alchemist stared at Mustang for a few minutes with an unreadable look on his face. He put his head in his hands and gave a muffled reply. "The array is for human transmutation. The alchemist who broke into this house was attempting human transmutation to bring someone back to life. And this is the result of his transmutation. Obviously he didn't succeed. Then again, human transmutation never succeeds. From the looks of it, I'd say the alchemist attempted the transmutation about a week or more ago."
"How do you know this?" Mustang asked. "Human transmutation is illegal. Why would you know about it?"
"I read about it." Edward replied. It wasn't a lie. He did read about it, but he knew most of this from attempting it himself.
"And?" Mustang said.
Edward rolled his eyes. "No and. That's it."
Mustang's eyes narrowed. "You're hiding something, Fullmetal. And I will find out what it is."
"Sounds like a challenge." Edward said as he stood up. "I'm leaving. There's nothing else for me to do here. The array is safe. You can get that thing out of the circle if you want. But there's nothing to solve here. There was no murder. You just have to find the alchemist who did this." The young alchemist climbed the stairs and left the house, walking back to his apartment.
"Al, I'm back." Edward said when he entered his apartment.
Al looked up from the book he was reading. "That took a long time. Did you get your mission?"
Ed took his coat, jacket, and boots off and sat down on the couch next to his brother with a sigh. He rolled his shoulders to loosen them up. "No. I had to go with Mustang, his team, Hughes and his team to a house to investigate what they thought was a murder."
"Thought? What was it?" Al asked confused.
"An alchemist attempted human transmutation." Edward answered.
Al turned to face his brother. "Are you okay? That must have been horrible for you to see again. Did the officers figure anything out about you trying it?"
"I'm fine, Al. And they don't know that I tried it before but Mustang is suspicious and said he was going to figure out what I am hiding." Edward explained. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I just had to get stuck with that bastard as my commanding officer. He just loves to make everything harder for me."
"Don't worry brother. I'll always be here to help you and cover for you with Mustang. We'll make sure no one finds out that you did human transmutation." Al replied.
Edward smiled at his brother. "Thanks, Al."
The phone started ringing, ending their conversation.
Edward groaned. "If that's for me tell them I'm not here."
Al smiled and went to get the phone. "Hello."
"No, he isn't here….Okay. I'll tell him you called when he gets back. Bye." Al hanged the phone up and sat back down next to his brother. "That was the Colonel. He wants you to call him back when you get in."
"I just have to make sure I never get in." Edward replied.
Al laughed. "You can't stay away from him forever."
Edward groaned and pushed his brother off the couch to lay down. "Thanks for making my mood worse. I'll go see him tomorrow, happy?" Al nodded his head. "Good. Now I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when dinner is ready."
"Okay brother." Al replied.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Al stuck his head out of the kitchen a few hours later when he heard someone knocking at the door. He looked towards his brother to see him moan in his sleep and turn over. Not wanting to disturb his brother, Al went and opened the door to see Mustang, Hughes, Havoc, and Hawkeye. "Why do you people keep coming here? I told you that brother would call you when he got in." Al said with a sigh.
"Your brother has to be back by now." Hughes said. He looked in the doorway and saw the lump on the couch that was Edward.
Sighing again, Al stepped away from the door to let the officers inside and went to the couch. "Brother, wake up. Brother!"
Edward groaned and opened one eye to look at his brother. "What? Is dinner ready?"
"No. Mustang, Hawkeye, Havoc and Hughes are here." Al said.
"I'm not here." Edward replied and turned face down in the couch to go back to sleep.
"We can see that you are here, Fullmetal." Mustang said. "Get up and get your shoes on. We're going to Headquarters."
The young alchemist groaned and turned to look at Mustang. "You sound mad."
Mustang glared at Ed. "Not mad. Pissed off. Now get up."
"Why do I have to go to Headquarters?" Edward asked.
"Up now, Fullmetal. I won't tell you again." Mustang growled.
Edward growled and went to put his boots, jacket, and coat on. "Happy?"
Mustang grabbed Ed's arm and dragged him out of the apartment. "I take it you aren't happy." Edward said.
"Sorry about this, Al. Hopefully your brother will be back tonight. If he isn't coming back I'll call you." Hawkeye said.
Al looked at her worriedly. "What's going on? Is my brother in trouble?"
"Good-bye, Al." Hawkeye replied and left the apartment with Hughes.
"First Lieutenant!" Al said annoyed and ran into the hallway to look at the retreating backs of the three officers and his brother.
After being pushed into the car, Edward crossed his arms and glared out the window. "What the hell are you so mad about?"
Mustang looked at Ed from the rearview mirror, but didn't reply.
After being driven for ten minutes Edward realized something. "This isn't the direction to Headquarters. Where are we going?"
None of the officers answered him, causing the young alchemist to get a little nervous but he hid it behind an angry scowl.
About a half an hour later, Havoc pulled into the driveway of a nice house that looked like a rich guy lived here. It was a two story building with what look like five bedrooms. There was a flower garden in the front on the left side of the house door. The door was a tan color with one step in front of it with a stone path leading from the step to the driveway. The house was light blue with a chimney coming out of the roof.
The four adults got out of the car and walked up the stone path. Edward, seeing as he didn't have a choice, got out of the car and followed them. "Where are we?" The young alchemist growled, still annoyed about being dragged out of his apartment again.
Mustang pulled a key out and unlocked the door. "My house."
"Why are we here?" Edward asked as he crossed his arms and glared at Mustang's back. Of all the places he didn't want to be, Mustang's house was on the very top of the list with military headquarters. He hated Mustang and now he was being dragged to his house. He's only just joined the military yesterday and he was already at his commanding officer's house for whatever reason.
"It's more private here. If we talked at Central Headquarters someone might hear us." Mustang answered as pushed the young, stubborn alchemist into his house.
Edward planted his feet firming on the floor when he was inside and looked at Mustang. "Talk about what? I just saw you a few hours ago. What could we possibly have to talk about?"
"Human transmutation." Mustang answered as he closed his door.
The young alchemist sighed and rubbed his eyes. "This again? We already talked about this. I know about it because I read it from books. There done. Can I go now?"
Mustang grabbed Ed's arm and dragged him to the living room. "No. There is more to it than that."
The living room had a couch sitting across from the fireplace, a love seat sitting adjacent to the couch, and a recliner. In between the couch and fireplace was a coffee table that was sitting on a red rug. Around the room were pictures of Mustang, his crew, and some looked like family pictures.
Hughes and Hawkeye were sitting on the couches already and Havoc was with them. Rolling his eyes, Edward sighed. "Why are they here?"
"I trust them. They'll keep it a secret." Mustang replied.
Edward wrenched his arm free. "You may trust them, but I don't trust you or any of them. Besides it none of your business."
"I am your commanding officer. Whatever you do is my business. I need to know about your life so I know if it will affect your work or not. You fainted when you saw that creature and array in the basement. I don't think it was because it was your first time seeing that type of thing. I think it's because it brought up a bad memory. I need to know what that memory is to know if it will affect your performance at work." Mustang replied.
The young alchemist crossed his arms stubbornly.
Mustang sighed and turned to Hughes. "It's a teenage thing, isn't it?"
Hughes smiled. "Teenage rebellion. They don't listen to adults. They don't talk to adults when they need to. They are as stubborn as mules."
"Then how do we get him to tell us what we want to know?" Mustang asked.
Hughes shrugged his shoulders. "I've never dealt with a teenager before."
Edward rolled his eyes and sat on the ground in front of the fireplace. He stared at the flames in the fireplace, memorized by them, waiting for the two officers to stop talking about him as he if he wasn't there. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Hawkeye sit next to him.
"Major Elric?" Hawkeye said.
"First Lieutenant." Ed retorted.
"Fullmetal." Mustang said from behind the young golden haired alchemist.
Edward groaned. "What?"
"Are you going to tell us why you fainted?" Mustang said.
"What do you think?" Edward snapped at him.
"I think you're being a stubborn shorty." Mustang replied.
Edward glared at him. "DON'T CALL ME SHORT!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, making all the officers grab their ears in pain.
Mustang glared at Ed. "Could you be any louder?"
"Sure I can." Ed snapped.
A game of questions started up. Each time Mustang asked a question, Edward would reply with another question. He wasn't going to tell these officers anything.
After half an hour of this, Mustang was ready to put the kid on fire. "This is getting us nowhere."
"Exactly." Edward replied and stood up. "Where is your bathroom?" Mustang looked at him suspiciously. "What? Can't you trust your subordinate?"
"You do have a great skill at escaping military officers." Havoc replied.
"Where am I going to go? I've never been in this part of the city before. I'd just get lost." Edward said.
Mustang pointed down the hall. "Down the hall, second door on you left."
Edward nodded his head and went into the hallway, a smirk forming on his lips. It was true that he had never been in this part of the city, but as soon as he realized they weren't going to headquarters he memorized the route they took to get here. He just had to use the route going backwards to get back to his apartment.
When he was in the bathroom, Edward locked the bathroom door and looked around the bathroom. He found a window and smirked. He was getting the hell away from Mustang.
Edward turned the sink on to make it sound like he was washing his hand, then he opened the window and climbed out of it. He jumped to ground and crawled under the windows so he wouldn't be seen by the officers. When he was past the windows he moved to the driveway and onto the other side of the car. He crawled to the end of the driveway then stood up and ran down the sidewalk away from Mustang and his loyal comrades.
After twenty minutes of waiting for Ed, Mustang began to get impatient. "Where the hell is that kid?" He said as he stomped down to the bathroom. He started pounded on the bathroom door. "FULLMETAL, OPEN THIS DOOR! FULLMETAL!"
There was no reply from the other side of the door.
Havoc came down the hallway with his hands resting in his pockets. "Allow me, boss." He knelt in front of the door and picked the lock.
When the door opened, Mustang's eye started twitching. The window was opened and the sink was still running, but that's not what was making Mustang's eye twitch. On his big mirror written in stuff from his medicine cabinet was 'Suck that, bastard. Can't keep the Fullmetal trapped.'
"That brat is mocking me." Mustang growled. "I'll teach him."
That kid has no idea what he has just gotten himself into. Havoc thought as he backed away from the angry Mustang. One of the first lessons you learn when working for Mustang, stay away from a pissed off Mustang. If you didn't, then you would get burned.
"What happened?" Hughes asked when Havoc came back to the living room.
"The kid snuck away and Mustang is pissed off." Havoc answered. "I have a feeling we are going to get dragged into a hunt for him."
Mustang stalked back into the living room. "We're going to find that brat then I'm going to set him on fire a million times."
Edward growled annoyed. He left Mustang's house about half an hour ago and it was beginning to get dark, then it started raining making his automail ports hurt a lot.
After walking for another ten minutes, Edward was almost back to his apartment when a man stepped in front of him. The man had short black hair and blue eyes. He looked to be well built with a lot of muscle. He was dressed in casual clothes. Edward could see the silver chain coming from his pocket connecting to his belt and a gun in a holster under his jacket.
"What do you want?" Edward growled. He wasn't in the mood to socialize.
"Is that a state alchemist pocket watch?" The man asked.
"Yeah, why?" Edward asked.
"I was away during the State Alchemist Exam so I didn't know who became the new state alchemist." The man said. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Han Jackson, The Blood Red Alchemist." [3]
Edward nodded his head. "Major Edward Elric, The Fullmetal Alchemist."
Han looked around. "Where are you going?"
"Back to the hotel." Edward replied annoyed and walked past the older state alchemist. He barely got two steps away when he felt the barrel of a gun on his necks. "What are you doing, Jackson?"
The state alchemist didn't reply. Instead he hit Edward in the back of his neck with the hilt of his gun, knocking the young alchemist out.
A/N: I could continued this chapter, but this seems like a great place to leave it. And I was beginning to relax to and enjoy writing this chapter. Guess I'll just continue onto the next chapter.
[1] Hughes team is Major Armstrong, Second Lieutenant Maria Ross, Sergeant Denny Brosh, Sheska, and probably a few other unnamed officers. Since this is another universe Sheska is already on Hughes team. She only works at the desk so she isn't at the crime scene. This might not by Hughes team, but I like these characters and they are always seen together so I chose them.
[2] I know Mustang was thinking about doing human transmutation in the 2003 anime. I'm not sure if he considers it in brotherhood or the manga. Anyway in this story, he did consider doing it but never saw the array for human transmutation.
[3] One thing I hate is out of characters. This alchemist is not a character to be concerned about. I just made him up for the story to move on even though I have no idea where this story is going yet. Don't be concerned with him.
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