The Waters of Lethe
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. I just like to play around in it's world and torture Ed for awhile
Author's note:post series and very AU. Some movie events will happen, just differently
Warning: movie spoilers, plus violence, blood, death, bad language, and maybe sex.
Beta: Kittygirl109
23. Flight (Flug)
Edward and Captain Braun passed within only a few feet of each other, but the former was hidden in the press of mostly taller travellers, and wasn't seen. Edward walked steadily and calmly, he was determined not to do anything which would call attention to himself. He still broke a sweat when the conductor of the Milan train shouted, "All aboard!", but he had a few minutes to spare this time and boarded without having to sprint the length of a station platform.
This train was far more crowded, it seemed everyone and his brother was headed for the warmer climes of southern Italy, so Edward had more trouble finding space in a compartment. He eventually found a half empty one in the last second class car, just as the train started to roll out of the station. Edward had just pushed his suitcase onto the overhead luggage rack when the conductor came down the corridor, calling "Tickets, please!" When he reached the compartment Edward was in, he gave his up with a smile to be punched and handed back to him.
He sank back into his seat and let the tension ease out of his body. He had escaped and now he was on a train which was taking him further and further from Germany with each clickety-clack of the wheels. Even when the restless children of the Austrian family who shared the compartment roughly jostled him, Edward was able to give their parents a patient smile and reassuring words. "It's quite all right, they aren't bothering me." He closed his eyes and sighed with relief.
Meanwhile, back in Vienna...
The situation wasn't quite so happy. Herr Machus nearly had a stroke when he returned to his office and discovered the door to the back room wide open and his detainee gone. Old Hermann, the janitor, couldn't understand what all the fuss was about, he hadn't seen anyone else. Nor did he appreciate it when Captain Braun returned and began shouting profanities at the top of his lungs. Braun got right on the phone to call every member of his force and order them to search the station top to bottom for a young man with long blond hair in a ponytail.
Hope died hard, but it eventually expired in Captain Braun's breast as officer after officer phoned in to report no sightings. It was if that crazy German had vanished like smoke. He was still fuming, and glaring at the phone when the outer office door opened. A soft voice coughed poliltely, and said, "Excuse me?"
Captain Braun looked up from his desk to see a middle-aged man of roughly average height with short-cropped brown hair, and a goatee. The hair was greying at the temples, and there were some silvery strands in the goatee as well. The man wore a plain brown wool coat over a neat dark blue suit with white pinstripes. He stood just inside the doorway, and behind him were two of the biggest men Braun had ever seen. Both of them were bareheaded with short buzzcut hair, they wore dark trenchcoats over white shirts and pants.
To the questioning wiggle of Braun's eyebrows, the man removed a soft brown fedora from his head and said, "I am Doctor Theophilus Stein, director of the Angelika Convalescent and Nursing Home near Berlin. These gentleman are Klaus and Bruno," he acknowledged both with a wave of his hat. "They are two of my best nurses. We have come to fetch Edward Elric, I understand you have him in custody?"