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 movie and slightly AU. Some movie events will happen, but differently
Warning: movie spoilers, also violence and death. Maybe sex.
Beta: Jedimasterwithapen
62. On The Road To Shambala (Die Straße zu Shambala)
"Fraulein!" Heidreich gasped in amazement. He recognized Himmler and Goebbels from newsreel films he'd seen at the movie theater and he was astonished. Plus curious. "What are all those people doing in that circle?"
"Why, Herr Heidreich. We are going to sacrifice them to open a portal to Shambala! You will go down in history as a hero because your fabulous rockets shall take us there. Would you like to come along?"
Still in a state of shock, Alfons stammered awkwardly,"B - but - but you can't mean that Fraulein! The - they are human beings, this-this is wrong, this is very, very wrong!"
Eckart ground her teeth with annoyance, she should have known Heidreich and the other rocketeers- they were also exclaiming in horror-might be bothered by this.
"Don't be stupid, Heidreich! These are sub-humans, the retarded, blind, deaf, and crippled. They will be swept away before Hitler's mighty Third Reich takes its rightful place at ruler of two worlds. If you are foolish enough to try to block our glorious path, you will be brushed aside too."
Heidreich shook his head and took one step back. He looked sick, as if he'd finally realized what uses his rocket ships would be put to. Eckart stopped his flight with merely a nod to the soldiers.
Cries of alarm erupted from the rocketeers when they found themselves surrounded by stern-faced men with guns.
But Eckart hesitated on the verge of ordering all of them herded into the Array. It would be best if she kept one alive in case of problems with the rockets. "I decided Heidreich. I will keep you alive for now. Keep your mouth shut if you want to stay that way."
Alfons continued to protest even as two soldiers bound his hands behind his back, until a third man knocked him out with a firm tap from a rifle butt. He was dragged over to lay unconscious and bleeding by Eckart's feet.
"Fraulein?" the soldier's commanding officer asked. "What about the rest of the rocketeers?"
"Eliminate them."
/
Dietlinde Eckart would never forget the triggering of the Array as long as she lived. The sight of the blue light leaping high into the air, the sizzling and hissing sounds it made were engraved in her memory. Also engraved was the screams of the sacrifices-despite the tranquilizer they somehow knew something very bad was happening.
Several of the men behind her put their hands over their ears. Eckart very badly wanted to follow their lead, but she didn't dare, she must not show even a hint of weakness in front of them.
The lights reached all the way to the high ceiling of the Great Hall and etched another circle. Everyone was looking at it when the screams ratcheted up to a new and terrifying pitch. Gasps of horror erupted at the sight of black arms snaking down from the ceiling, grabbing people and taking them up into the air to disappear into the other circle.
They were taken in small groups of three or four until all were gone and only the hum of power created by the Puppet Alchemist could be heard.
Then a wondrous thing happened.
A tinkling sound, like thousands of glass windows breaking at the same time was heard and the Portal opened. It was tiny at first, and then it separated into multiple copies of itself before they lined up and described a circle. This circle became bigger and bigger until it echoed the size of the Array on the floor below. The ceiling could no longer be seen, it was now replaced by a shimmering yellow void.
"The road to Shambala is open!" Eckart declared and spread her arms wide, and her triumph rang throughout the Great Hall.