AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS
Just don't kill me please... I'm a terrible person for leaving you with a cliffy like that...
"Dear Lord…" Mustang breathed as the last few pieces clicked into place, "Col… No, Riza… Look at this…" Riza peered over her superior's shoulder and felt her own eyes widen in fright.
"Sir… Is that really…?"
"Damnit!" Papers flew everywhere as the Fuhrer slammed his fists down onto the table. "All of this work… All of this lost time… And I still can't do anything!" The pair remained in those positions for a moment, the man once more losing sight of the future he held so dearly at the peril of the young man lying comatose at that very moment, the woman playing the role of an angle desperately sought to provide comfort for the fallen. The afternoon light filtered through the shades of the window behind them, illuminating the pair of lost souls along with a simple slip of paper that meant so much to those who laid eyes on it.
The value lay in the meaning, in the bluntness, and in the unforgiving Truth that came with it. It told of the monstrosity that guarded the gate, and how the creature took possession of one so young. The implications that lay within the story where overwhelming. Fuhrer and Colonel had learned the truth beyond the Truth and the fact that one's sins can never be atoned for.
A passing cloud blocked the visionary light and with the darkness came a realization most unwelcome.
"Sir," Riza began, "If this is true… Then Edward…"
"Hurry Col.!" Mustang burst from his chair, eyes hazed over and strode towards the entrance tto the library. Guards tailed him and his Col. flanked his right side, pistols drawn and loaded.
If what Fullmetal wrote down is true, then that means that the Truth is most likely planning on taking advantage of Alphonse's form to get its revenge on him… And I left him with a single guard! The fleet of soldiers marching directly to the hospital from the library, for it was conveniently located two blocks west of the Central Branch. Mustang burst through the doors and towards Edward's room on the third floor. He forewent the elevator, which seemed slow in coming, and took the stairs three at a time.
Moments later he burst into Edward's hospital room, only to find that he was too late. For in front of him was the very creature he had been hunting, over a face that should have been filled with emotion. Instead, it seemed to be an empty shell. A shell that was never to speak, to laugh, to love, or even to live again. Because Mustang had been late in the very thing he had sworn to do, deciphering the unbreakable code, Edward Elric, the mighty hero, was dead.
Mustang, a man who had already lost his heart twice, lost it once more. With a single snap, the room was in flames. The creature who had dared to assume the shape of one beloved to the dearly departed was gone, devoured by a raging fire. Mustang staggered forward, the heat overwhelming to even him and seized the body of the older Elric. The other was nothing but ashes. He stumbled back out of the inferno and collapsed at the feet of his Col.
"It… It's done Riza…" he managed, "It's… Dead…" Riza knelt down at her superior's feet and grasped his forearms, even as he refused to release Edward from his death grip.
"And?" she prodded gently, fears rising in her mind as to why he would be this distressed. A chocked sob was her only answer and Riza reached down to take something that she knew wouldn't be there anymore. But she had to. It came with the job. Stillness was all the met her fingers. Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, Hero of the People, and Savior of Amestris was no longer among the living.
Riza closed her eyes and bowed her head as a silent tear fell down her cheek, closely followed by a second, a third, and a fourth until it ran into a constant stream. The two mourning commanders clung to each other, holding tightly to the one who they cared for most. Angel and fallen human, meeting over the death of a wounded soldier. The poetic notion would be remembered eons later, even when the people themselves were long gone, not even dust in the wind…
AUTHOR'S ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM DYING
NOT THE FACE! ANYWHERE BUT THE FACE AND THE LEFT COLLARBONE BECAUSE I WAS DRIVING AND I GOT INTO A CAR ACCIDENT BUT THAT REALLY ISN'T ANYTHING TO DO WITH ME NOT UPDATING BECAUSE IT WAS ON THE 17 BUT PLEASE DON'T KILL ME ANYWAYS BECAUSE THIS STORY'S STILL NOT DONE I PROMISE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T PULL A GUN ON ME!