(Age 16)
Elizabeth silently followed her brothers over the wall, not even looking back to see if Jean was still there. Al jumped down first, making as little crash as he could. Edward followed, landing much quieter, but still with an audible creak of metal. The boys opened their arms up to catch their sister, but she huffed indignantly and hopped down a few feet to their right, using her smaller frame to roll out of her landing without a sound save for the rustling of weeds.
"Damn," Edward swore, his gaze lingering on a boarded up entry-way behind the gate that the guard stood watch, "The entrance is also sealed shut." He paced away from it slowly, raking the area for possible entrances without the use of alchemy.
Elizabeth cleared her throat quietly and pointed to an air vent above him. It was just a few inches broader than his shoulders and squared off exactly.
Climbing up on Alphonse, Edward quietly unscrewed the already loosened bolts and removed the vent's cover to peer inside of it. "It looks like it goes all the way back," He informed them, his voice echoing slightly in the long vent, "Al, you stay, Beth, you're coming." He ordered bluntly, handing the cover down to her.
As they nodded in agreement, Al asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Ed laughed a little.
"It doesn't matter what I want. I don't think you'll fit, Al." He glanced over at Elizabeth and eyed her chest. "Then again, my little sister isn't exactly my size any more either. Will you fit, Beth?"
Realizing what her brother was saying, Elizabeth flushed red and covered her chest, thoroughly embarrassed, "Y-You know, your shoulders are wider than mine! I think that will make up for my...my..."
"Chest?" Al offered helpfully, purposely looking way from his big sister.
"Yeah!" She agreed, waving her hand t Edward, "Just go already, I'll be right behind you!" she hissed, wanting this to move along already so she could get back to headquarters and maybe get to the bottom of what was going on with Jean.
Wonderful. Just. Fucking. Wonderful. Jean thought bitterly, followed by a string of swears. Melanie lead him to her house, which had only been about a five or so minute walk past the building that the Elrics were breaking into.
That's another thing, he thought, smiling and waving to a disappointed waitress, as he ha left her at her front door and not gone in to have some fun. What were they doing at that abandoned place? He walked back the way he came, much quicker than he had walked away. By the time he turned the last corner to get to the crumbling walls that the kids had jumped, he was at a full sprint.
He couldn't see any of them, but he couldn't see over the wall either. After snooping for a few minutes, Jean found a place that was crumbled enough for him to climb through. Finally in the darkness he could make out Elizabeth's younger brother, Alphonse.
Creaking slightly with his sudden awareness of a person, Alphonse snapped his attention to Jean. Once he realized who it was, Al waved pleasantly, surprising the man.
He waved in return, asking, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Oh..." Al replied lamely, rubbing the back of his helmet slightly, "Just out for a stroll. You should head back," Al was going to stop there, but the look in Jean's eyes showed full intent to argue with him, so he added, "Before Elizabeth and Edward get back. Liz is pretty upset about you and the other woman, and Ed was just getting used to the idea of the two of you so...yeah."
Jean's heart sank at the boy's words. Edward wasn't going to kill him before? "You mean he wasn't mad any more...?" Jean asked for clarification.
Having successfully shifted the subject away from why they were here, Al replied willingly, "Oh he was mad. But you have to remember that Edward has a really short temper and that you were caught with our sister. I knew she liked you, so I wasn't so surprised, but Ed had no idea that either of you liked the other. He's not so good with stuff like that," He shrugged at the last part before continuing, "And Ed really liked you anyway, so you and Liz wouldn't have been an issue for him had you given it some time. After all, you did keep her away from the fight with Scar. He and I are still thankful for that. But..." Alphonse trailed off, not knowing how to put the next part without criticizing the older man and keep it short so he'd leave and get out of any possible danger.
"But what?" Jean prompted impatiently, hanging off of the armor's every word. He had long since forgotten that Al was four, almost five years his junior, and was listening like a little boy to his father's advice.
"But you blew it." He replied bluntly, "You blew just about any chance you had with having a smooth relationship with my sister and not being on brother's bad side. Had you told Ed about the two of you, or stood your ground, then you would have Ed's respect and Liz's admiration. But now they both think you're a coward, and Liz thinks that she meant nothing to you." Al paused, looking to Jean skeptically, "She did mean something to you, right?"
Panicked, Jean replied, "No! I-I mean yes! Not did, does. She does mean something to me. I really care about her." He stuttered out, subconsciously intimidated by the large suit of armor.
Al was satisfied with his answer, even though he was disappointed in the man's actions. He knew that Jean did care about his sister. Not only was Al very susceptible to others' emotions, but he knew that Jean wouldn't have come back from his 'trip' to check on his sister if he didn't. Still, he knew that Jean was scared of his brother, even more now than before, so he goaded the older man a bit more to help motivate him by saying, "Obviously you don't care that much about her, or you wouldn't have gone home with another woman."
Jean moved to argue, but a looming figure interrupted him, jumping down from the building's roof with a cleaver in hand. "I wanna mince you up..." He jeered eerily, eyeing them both. "And I don't mind chopping up an extra little piggy, either!" He cackled, referring to Jean's sudden appearance.
Alphonse shifted quickly to cover the man, ordering him roughly, "Go back to head quarters, now!" Knowing her was over-powered and out-gunned, Jean raced out the way he came, a string of vulgar words following him as he cussed himself out for not having his pistol on his person.
Meanwhile, in the air duct, Elizabeth trailed her older twin, completely oblivious to Jean's arrival. Her mind was cluttered with jealous, angry thoughts, how he had kissed her twice but taken another woman home. Then doubt crept in on her mind as she reminded herself bitterly that he was three, nearly four years her senior. He, in her mind, thought that she was a child.
She suddenly halted, just in time to stop before she ran into her brother. He had crippled himself, as far as his ego goes anyway, by accidentally calling himself small while muttering about the cramped space.
"Oh suck it up, Ed," Elizabeth hissed angrily, "At least your boobs aren't squished so much it's hard to breathe!" she snapped in a hushed tone, punching his boots to signal for him to continue moving.
"Damn it, Beth!" He retorted, shuffling along, "I could have gone my entire life without hearing about your damn boobs." Though she couldn't see it, he was sporting a scowl tinted with disgust.
Luckily neither of them had much more time to wallow in their self-pity or angry thoughts, as the exit to the vent was only a few feet before them. Edward quickly knocked the cover off and hopped down, moving to the side so Elizabeth could also get down from the vents.
"What's with the lights...?" Elizabeth muttered, pointing to the small strips of light along the bottom of the halls, illuminating the pathways.
"What the hell do they mean by 'currently not in use'?" he muttered in reply, scanning the hall for an important looking door or anything of pertinence.
"Bingo!" Beth chirped, pointing again, this time to a wide door way just barely out of his sight. Had he been standing directly under the vent like she was, the corner of the hall wouldn't block his view of the portal.
"Let's go."
Jean ran as fast as he could back to head quarters. He didn't know what they were up to exactly, but he knew that they were in trouble and that it had something to do with the philosopher's stone. Once he reached the building in the middle of Central, he barged through the front doors an kept running all the way to the Elrics' room.
There he found Mari Ross on one side of their door and Denny Brosh on the other. The bewildered look on his face worried the lady, but Denny was nearly asleep, propped up against the wall.
Realizing that the two guards hadn't noticed the Elrics' escape, Havoc's temper flared. "What the hell are you two doing here?!" He snapped furiously, scaring Brosh into consciousness. A small part of Jean, behind his current panic and worry, felt a little happy that he'd scared one of the other men who had been very friendly with his Beth.
"What?" He mumbled incoherently, almost entirely unaware of his surroundings. In his defense, Denny knew that Maria was near and he could let his guard slip a little. Though He was slow to the start, Maria had already rushed into the now-empty room with horror painted on her face.
"We've been had!" She cried, cursing silently under her breath, "I knew it was too quiet in here." She added, sending a glare to Denny, who had told her they were probably asleep when she had voiced her skepticism.
"Oh nooooo!" Wailed Denny tragically. "Major Armstrong is going to scream at us for not doing our jobs!" Denny was afraid of the Major, but he was oblivious to the man near him who was simmering in his own anger.
He managed to keep his cool, however, until Maria gritted out angrily, "Those little punks! Can't they think about things from our standpoint?!"
"Damn it!" Jean seethed furiously, lashing out at the two people involved who knew the least, "Don't you know that I'm unarmed and those three are fighting god knows what at that lab?! I came for you two to get some help and you bastards are worried about your standpoint?!"
When the urgency of the situation finally became clear, Maria sprang into action, snatching up her coat and ordering Brosh, "We're going!" while pulling on her coat and rushing out the door, a confused Brosh following like a duckling.
"Damn it!" Elizabeth screeched as her brother lunged forcefully at the soul-bound suit of armor. He'd revealed where his blood seal was soon after Edward and she had realized that he was hollow. Elizabeth's screech was primarily due to her frustration. The flames weren't going where she wanted them to go. The flint piece she had Winry install in her automail was malfunctioning, making it more difficult to create the spark. It was still possible, as the first time she ever used flame alchemy was by accident and by a spark created by a slight overlap in the inner workings of the automail, but nonetheless it was much less predictable than the use of the flint.
The armor, number 48 as he called himself, was just as fast as Alphonse was when he sparred with the two of them, but he had the intent to kill. Elizabeth stood to the edges, having little experience with the arm-sword that Edward usually used. When her ears filled with the sound of metal on metal, however, she became motivated once again to aide her brother.
She clapped and touched the ground, blue light enveloping her. She pulled out a a fierce, short sword to match that of number 48. Gulping, she charged him, hearing a distinct 'clack' coming from Ed'd arm. Oh no. Don't tell me he broke his arm again! She thought worriedly. He was more of a hand to hand fighter, she was more of a distance fighter. Not that she'd fought much in these past few months.
Her stone-like sword crashed into the armor, not really affecting him much. It did, however, distract him long enough for Edward to slip away a bit. Realizing that she had only created a distraction and that Elizabeth wasn't much of a fighter, he turned back to Edward, thrusting his sword down where Ed lay crouched from his sudden escape.
Just barely avoiding the attack, Edward had rolled backward, resting on his hands and narrowly keeping his legs on either side of the sword to evade injury. From that position, he surprised the armor thoroughly by continuing with his roll into a back handspring and landing a few feet away.
Number 48, caught completely off guard, just chuckled. "You're like a monkey!" He exclaimed, as if talking with a friend and not an opponent. Elizabeth had already known that number 48 thought he was going to win, but to talk so casually with the enemy only added to her confirmation.
"What did you say!?" Edward cried, still on the ground and breathing heavily. Elizabeth's face dropped. She was fine. She hadn't been in the fight. When was she going to step in and stop being useless?
The armor waved a hand, signaling that he meant no offense, "I'm happy to have a worthy and energetic prey for once." He commented, thinking back, "Though with your wounds and fatigue, I can see where this fight will lead." Ed's head dropped, realizing it too. Elizabeth shifted to the shadows discreetly, hoping to ready herself for a surprise attack. She had been mapping out a plan of action, but wanted to see if the armor would reveal anything pertinent to the stone. "Your two companions aren't much help either, boy. The girl is too loud and not covered properly by the darkness like she wishes to believe," Elizabeth cursed loudly, coming back out of the darkness. Leave it to an Al-wannabe to catch her being sneaky. "And the other boy outside is probably being taken care of by my companion. He can't help you, and it seems as if the girl is no good at direct contact."
"So." Ed drawled out, slowly regaining his breath, "Is that companion of yours strong?" Elizabeth walked over to Edward, never turning her back to number 48, and tried to help her discouraged twin up.
Answering seriously, the armor replied, "He is strong," with a slight pause he added, "Though weaker than I."
Elizabeth smiled a bit, her eyes shining as she watched and listened to her brother gain back his confidence. She listened to his scoff and honest-to-god amused laugh and watched his confidence physically build him back up to a stance. It was times like these, when Edward was broken, beaten, and bleeding, but still standing an ready to fight that she knew why she stood behind him. Because no matter how bruised or battered he was, Edward always stood tall for something he knew he could fight.
"Then I'm not worried a bit!" He cried smugly, "In all out years of sparring together, I've never beaten that guy once!"
"Even if he does arrive, he will have wasted a great deal of time already." The armor reasoned, completely calm.
Edward smirked, and Elizabeth smiled hopefully, catching his drift. They had no idea when Al would arrive, but neither did this suit of armor. "Is that so?" He countered smugly. "Al!" He cried, "Do it now!"
Number 48 whipped around quickly, not willing to be attacked from behind. "When did he...?" He cried, sword drawn and poised for attack. He realized the trick too late, however, as Edward and Elizabeth were already charging him, transmuting their automail simultaneously. Though Elizabeth's blade was not as smooth as Ed's because she was not used to transmuting metals, it was still sharp enough to aide her brother from the other side as they sliced off the armor's helmet.
As the helmet flew, number 48 huffed, "How cowardly!"
Elizabeth scoffed, "Sorry, but when it comes to my brothers-"
Edward interrupted, "And my sister, there's no such thing as being cowardly in a fight." The twins leaned on each other, Edward leaning a bit more than Elizabeth. They walked to where the helmet lay, transmuting their automail back to normal while walking.
Elizabeth snatched up the head by the long string of hair, looking at it intently. The rounded helmet had two bars on top of the brow, where the top had two bolts and the bottom had three. Below that, the eye slit was shaped like a 'T', branching left for one eye, right for the other, and down for a person's nose. Covering the very bottom and potentially one's mouth was a piece of cloth across the entire bottom. "We have some questions, if you don't mind."
"About the Philosopher's Stone?" The armor asked.
"Come on," Ed demanded, tapping the helmet in Liz's grasp, "Tell us, you lost, don't resist!"
An eerie, unsettling laugh emerged from the helmet, striking a chord of fear in Elizabeth's heart. "I haven't lost yet." The helmet retorted.
Suddenly, the armor's sword jutted between the two of them, grazing Edward's side and Elizabeth's left arm. Elizabeth dropped the helmet nearly as fast as Edward clutched his side, and both of them jerked out of the way, frightened to the bone.
A new voice, this time emitting from the armor itself and not the helmet, explained, "There doesn't have to be only one soul, you know."
The helmet chuckled slightly, having known that he kept an ace tucked away in his sleeve, "I forgot to mention that number 48, the killer known as 'slicer',"
The body continued for him, much like Elizabeth and Edward had done when disputing cowardice in a fight, saying, "was actually a team of two brothers."
Worn out, Elizabeth breathed, "Two...Souls? One for the head...and another for the body?"
Sitting not too far from his sister, where he had thrown himself away from the second brother's attack, Edward cried pettily, "That's cheating!"
The helmet brother replied, "Who was the one that said there was no cowardice in a fight?"
"Yeah, yeah," The armor brother chimed, reminding Elizabeth of Al. She felt a pang of worry when thinking of him. Was he alright against a death row criminal? "Don't take this personally, it's our job to keep outsiders...out." His arm jutted forward as he took a large step towards the twin, about to charge them, "Ready for round two, shrimps?"
He halted himself, however, lowered his sword, and pointed to the blood seal in plain view on the inside of his collar. "First I'll show you my blood seal. Destroy it and win," He taunted, but paused and added, "But with the way you're shaking, I doubt you can!"
Edward cursed under his breath and clapped, yelling, "Don't underestimate me!" The previous charge that the younger brother had begun, however, was upon Edward at once.
The armor snapped, "I'm not letting you transmute!" Forced to the defense, Edward leaped out of the way just in time, but Elizabeth's reflexes weren't as good. The sword slashed shallowly across her upper chest, only just below her collar bone, until it hit her automail shoulder. With gasp of pain and a jerk of delayed reactions, she flew back, pressing hard on her cut to make the pain go away if she could. She didn't deal well with pain.
Meanwhile, the younger slicer brother had paid no mind to the weaker twin, instead catching up to Edward and jabbing him roughly with the butt of his sword where he had just been cut, making him double over in pain and cough up blood.
Elizabeth was still seething in pain, but she tried to get up and help Edward. Propping up on her automail arm, it gave out without warning. She let out a swear as she saw the removed bolt, broken off by the blow she just received. She still managed to stand shakily, just in time to witness the most terrifying attack.
Edward was propped up against a pillar, clutching his side wound. He clapped, ready to transmute, right as the younger brother was upon him. "I told you I'm not letting you transmute!" He yelled, sword aimed.
"Edward!" Elizabeth screeched, right as he evaded to one side, only barely getting nicked by the blade.
His alchemicly charged hands touched the armor's midsection and in the split-second that time seemed to freeze, Edward muttered, "I just remembered that bastard." Then like a time bomb, the younger slicer brother's armor exploded and fragmented off into a thousand pieces. Elizabeth's eyes widened as she saw what happened. Edward had stopped at stage two: decomposition.
Edward slumped to the ground and Elizabeth slowly made her way there. The younger brother started wriggling and snapped, "You really screwed me up! Damn you kids!"
Elizabeth let out a squeak of surprise and lost her balance, tumbling down once again. "Brother..." A young, pitiful voice whined, coming from the armor. Elizabeth managed to prop herself up again, without the arm.
"It's pitiful," The helmet replied to his brother, "But we lost." he admitted in defeat.
Edward, ever suspicious, reached out with his leg and kicked the legs of the armor. "There's not really three of you, right?" he asked seriously.
"No, no." The two of the chimed together, the armor top waving his hand dismissively. The helmet elaborated by adding, "Good job, kid. You really did win this time."
Content with his victory, and oblivious to Elizabeth now propped up against the same pillar he sat against, he demanded, "Now tell us everything!"
In a sadder voice, the helmet replied, "I can't. Now destroy us and get lost!"
Edward sighed as Elizabeth slumped next to him, "We're not murders." he insisted, Elizabeth silently nodding with him.
"You're too soft!" The helmet remarked, "How can you call us humans?!" he laughed bitterly, "Don't kill us! Destroy us!"
"No." Elizabeth sneered angrily, "You are human. You have a soul. We won't murder, nor can we destroy you. You're human, just like my little brother! He's human. He has to be. He's my little brother. You're Human." she explained pitifully, repeating the same few ideas a couple of times.
Laughter flooded the room and swam through Ed and Beth's ears. "Brother?" The younger slicer asked, not understanding the laughter either.
"That's so ironic!" The helmet cried through fits of laughter, "Since we were young, we've stole, destroyed, and killed. We were labeled as outcasts and savages! Never human! And now, in these bodies, to finally be treated as a human! So funny!" His laughter faded and the helmet took a more serious tone, "You wanted to know about the stone, right boy?"
"Brother!" The younger one cried, sending a pang of worry to the twins' hearts. "We'll be punished if we talk!"
The helmet barked a laugh, "We'll be punished anyway for being defeated! We've died once, let's not be afraid now. Boy," He began speaking to Edward again, "As a farewell gift, I'll tell you everything, even if I don't know much."
"Then what's the point in talking?!" Ed cried rashly. He knew deep down that any information would help, but the moment caught him by surprise.
"I know not of the stone itself, but the ones who are making it, the ones who ordered us to guard this place..." He trailed off slightly.
"Who?!" Edward and Elizabeth cried together, needing to know.
"They are-" Two sharp spikes shot through the helmet and the blood seal, silencing number 48.
"That was too close," A thick, womanly voice purred, the spikes retracting back to her. A woman in a long, tight dress stepped out of the darkness. Her black hair was the only thing covering her shoulders, and the black dress she wore didn't cover much cleavage. "You mustn't blab so much, number 48." She teased.
"Oh my," Another voice cooed, out stepping a person that Elizabeth couldn't identify as a single gender. His hair was long and spiky, jutting out of a head band. He wore a cropped turtleneck and some sort of mixture between a skirt and shorts. "Why're the shrimps here?" He laughed, "Well then, what to do in a situation like this?"
Elizabeth, feeling faint already, stopped hearing the conversations completely. She heard bits and pieces, like the woman not wanting anyone to see this place, and the younger slicer wanting a new body. She heard his death, but by then couldn't move or see. She was slowly losing her grip on consciousness. There was something about a sacrifice, then the next thing she heard was Ed screaming at someone angrily. The last part she heard before going completely out was Edward's automail failing and him slumping to the ground as well.
Are we...Dead?
Wow! This one's pretty long! I couldn't find a good place to break it up, and I figured, what's wrong with an extra-long one every once and a while?