Chapter Five: Monkshood
Monkshood carries a message; Beware, a deadly foe is near.
When Kaiser arrived at the scene, he wasn't accompanied by a large mob like Alphonse had feared, but instead with a large hunting rifle in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
"Mr. Lotus… why do you bring that rifle around with you?" Alphonse asked in confusion.
"To scare the townsfolk away," Kaiser swung the rifle and used his shoulder to support it. "The whole town was ready to bring pitchforks and burning torches and beat you two up to death. I need something to make sure they don't get close enough to the two of you."
Behind him, Fletcher, who had gone to search for the mayor before shrugged helplessly. Alphonse, however, was relieved that Kaiser still had ways to ward the townspeople off. Considering that yet another disappearance had happened – with Edward right in the middle of it all – he had a feeling that if the townsfolk plan to get rid of his brother, it wouldn't be with smiles but rather with a stab to the stomach.
"Tell me what happened here," Kaiser commanded. Ives, who had been staring at the log the whole time, quickly explained what had happened. Alphonse stared at him intently while he listened. Somehow, Ives seemed to be quite calm despite the situation.
"Is that so," Kaiser hummed thoughtfully after Ives was finished. He turned to Fletcher. "Nash, please accompany Mr. Fennel to the town hall to file this." Then he turned to Edward and Alphonse. "You two should go back to my house. I'll accompany you there."
"Are you sure?" Alphonse shifted uncomfortably. "I mean isn't the townspeople supposed to be the highest priority?"
"Normally it is, but if I leave you I'm afraid the whole town will commit double murder on you two." He casted a meaningful glance at his rifle. "Hopefully this will be enough to hold them back."
"And if isn't?" Edward asked quietly.
"Alchemy," Kaiser answered. "But coming from you, they may confuse it to some sort of fairy magic."
Edward clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Let's just return, now," Kaiser motioned towards the town. "It may be full moon tonight but staying out in the dark isn't going to do us any good."
The five walked quickly back to town, leaving the log leaning against the tree. When they entered the town, Edward was assaulted by the townspeople's glares and accusing whispers.
Another one disappeared? Just now?!
Must've been his fault.
When will he be satisfied?
We should've driven him away.
Maybe he's better off dead.
If he had a body, a chill would have climbed up Alphonse's spine, and judging by how Edward was walking a bit more stiffly than usual he was sure Edward felt absolutely unsafe. From the corner of his eye he saw someone picking a rock from the ground. The motion didn't go unnoticed by Kaiser, as he quickly cocked his rifle threateningly, making Edward jump in surprise and the man drop the rock. At Kaiser's glare, the man backed away slowly.
As Edward watched the fleeing man, Ives spoke up, "Did you give my sister to the fairies?"
Edward met Ives' glaring eyes. "I don't even believe they exist."
"You've just seen someone changing into a log of wood!"
Edward shook his head. "That's another topic entirely. I don't wish for anyone to disappear, ever. That should be answer enough for you."
Ives' eyes pierced into Edward's. He gave a nod and looked away. "I should've known she was going to go missing anytime soon," he grumbled.
"What do you mean?" Alphonse asked. Ives didn't answer.
Edward stared at the man still, but decided not to ask anything. He sighed and turned away. Alphonse felt a pang of sadness rising within him. He was more or less safe from the hostility because he possessed none of the fairy-like traits with his body. No, it was more accurate to say that he was the ultimate fairy-repelling charm, considering that he was practically all iron. If he had his own body, he might have been able to share the burden, even though he was sure Edward wouldn't let him.
He never allowed him to get hurt. But Alphonse hurt if he had to see Edward suffer. The older Elric never seemed to realize that.
Edward blinked and cursed softly all of a sudden. He turned to Kaiser. "Do you have a phone in your house? I think I need to call my CO."
"No, unfortunately," Kaiser answered. "But we have two or three in the town hall. You can use one of them."
Alphonse looked at Edward in confusion. "The colonel?"
Edward nodded. "I hate to admit it but we definitely need help in here." He let out a long sigh. "I just really hope he wouldn't use this to mock me…"
It didn't take long for them to reach the town hall, and Kaiser quickly directed Edward and Alphonse to the nearest telephone while Ives and Fletcher went to file the newest disappearance. Edward glanced to the window near where the phone was put, which overlooked the road that led straight to the forest, and Alphonse followed his gaze. From the window he could see the forest as well, dark yet somehow alluring at the same time.
"Hey, Al, do you remember the colonel's office's phone number?" Edward asked as he took out his notebook to look for his military code.
"Yeah, I remember," Alphonse answered and quickly rattled off the numbers. Edward put in the numbers with quick succession. He waited until the call was connected, tapping his foot on the floor somewhat impatiently, the receiver safely tucked under his ear. At one point Kaiser told them he would go to check on the disappearance records, but it was clear Edward didn't pay any attention to it.
"Good evening, Eastern Command," the phone sang when the call was finally connected.
"Yeah, this is Major Edward Elric, I need to speak with Colonel Mustang right now," Edward requested without wasting any time.
"Of course. But we cannot connect from an outside line, so for verification can I have your code please?"
Edward's eyes ran over his code and he scowled a bit. "Tango – Inkwood – November – Yogurt – Zero – Two – Three."
There was a short pause. "Your code was verified, please hold while I connect you."
Alphonse stared at Edward, partly in amusement and partly in curiosity. "Your military code is TINY-023?"
Edward glared at the phone with burning passion. "It's that damn colonel. I'm sure he did something and made sure I end up with that kind of ridiculous code."
"Oh, come on, Brother. I'm sure he wouldn't go that far."
Edward opened his mouth to retort but closed it again. "Well, maybe. He's just too lazy for it. But I'm sure he did this! If you were the one to get the code he'd probably make it something like IRON-101 or – "
A sudden loud, piercing shriek stopped Edward from talking further. He exchanged looks with Alphonse and peered outside of the window, catching the sight of a woman wearing a long white dress. Her long dirty grey hair was a mess, and face contorted in an ugly way that made her seem inhuman. Her eyes locked with Edward's, and she pointed right at him, screaming shrilly at the top of her lungs.
"What the hell?" Edward whispered, more than just a little disturbed. The phone's receiver dangled by its chord, forgotten.
The sudden sound of running feet coming closer drew their attention away from the shrieking lady. Ives, Fletcher, and Kaiser stood near them, the latest panting a little at the exertion.
"Why is it here?" Ives whispered.
"Who's that?" Edward asked him instead, pointing at the screaming lady.
It was Kaiser who answered, face looking grim. "It's a fairy known as Banshee," he explained, low voice rumbling above the high-pitched screams. "Banshees… they are known to announce someone's death by shrieking. Most likely, someone in this building will die soon."
Edward turned back to see the lady. She had stopped screaming and had now started to move into the forest. Edward's eyes widened, and Alphonse knew immediately that he was weighing his options. He prepared himself to take whatever action necessary according to what Edward decided to do.
He saw Edward clenching his fists in determination, and he knew his brother had decided.
Quickly, Edward yanked the window open and started to climb out. He had one of his feet dangling out when a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"What are you doing?" Fletcher snapped. "She's heading to the forest!"
"Chase and capture her!" Edward snapped right back, and Alphonse almost smacked himself. Of course Edward would choose pursuit. "I need to solve this case as soon as possible! None of us want another disappearance!"
"She is heading to the forest!" Fletcher hissed, grip tightening. "It's dangerous enough there in the afternoon, there's no telling what's out there at night! You can't be going there without protection!"
Edward growled, clearly tired of having to deal with it. He put the fingertips of his automail hand in his mouth and took off his glove using his teeth. He grabbed the glove and threw it recklessly over his head before wriggling his automail fingers in front of Fletcher's face, who was shocked enough to let go of him. "This is steel, and last time I checked it's more than enough to protect me."
He jumped out of the window without letting Fletcher regain his bearing. Seeing the sudden movement, Fletcher reached out to grab him, but only managing to grip on the tail of his coat before it slipped out of his hold.
"Wait, Brother!" Alphonse yelled after Edward, turning to dash from the door. "I'm going too – "
"Stop!" Fletcher quickly latched on his arm, and Ives his other arm, while Kaiser was in front of him and pushing him back.
"We don't need even more victim! You stay here!" Kaiser ordered.
"But Brother is – "
"Alphonse!" Kaiser's stern cry stopped Alphonse from struggling. "Please. You need to stay."
"I'll try looking for him," Ives offered, "first thing in the morning."
Alphonse stubbornly struggled.
"Alphonse!"
Alphonse froze at the desperation in Fletcher's voice, and he stared at the man. Fletcher said nothing, only keeping his gaze. Alphonse looked down at last. "Alright," he whispered. "Alright. If he doesn't get back tomorrow morning, though…"
"I'll look for him," Ives eased.
Alphonse turned to look at the open window. Edward was no longer in sight. Trying to catch up to him would be useless. He sighed and nodded. Ives and Fletcher let him go, and Kaiser stepped away. Alphonse's eyes kept staring at the window, straight to the forest. A part of him was still urging him to chase Edward. He tried hard to suppress that part.
His eyes fell upon the phone receiver, still dangling by its chord pitifully. Alphonse grasped it in his hand and put it near his helmet, listening.
The phone call was no longer connected.
Edward ran.
The town, bustling although dark just a moment before, had become eerily silent after the banshee had stopped screeching. He could see the white of the banshee's dress fleeting ahead of him, vanishing behind green leaves of the forest. He fastened his pace, determined not to lose track of the so called fairy.
The forest was dark, but luckily the full moon hanging in the clear sky was more than enough to provide dim light to illuminate his path. His keen eyes searched for a glint of white from the silhouettes of the trees. When he caught it, he dashed ahead.
Slowly, buzzing mumbles filled his ears, much like how it was earlier in the afternoon. The voices sounded worried and panicked, for some reason. He could feel the things tugging at his hair again, painfully, this time in desperation and not admiration. The sensation distracted him, and he lost track of the banshee. He growled and swatted at his hair in an attempt to get the sensation away, annoyed.
He then felt a tiny prick at his cheek, making him hiss in surprise. It felt like a tiny hand had just pinched him angrily. The buzz in his ears intensified, and he got the general feeling of someone telling him to back off before he got hurt, that he needed to go away, that this was too dangerous for him and he had to go before anything happened to him. He frowned, wondering just how he got that kind of feeling and more than a little annoyed that someone might be underestimating his capability. He was a State Alchemist! He could stand his ground!
Another tug at his hair, and he moaned angrily. "Knock it off!" he hissed at nothing in particular. "I need to get her! I can't let any more disappearance happen!"
The mumbles quieted and the tugging ceased. Then, slowly, the buzzing built again, and he could feel more tugging at his hair. This time it felt more like the tugging he felt when he was led to the track marks and the flower hair clip. He followed it.
The flower hair clip… it was still nagging him, how it felt familiar to him. He decided to forget about it for the time being.
The tugging led him to the right direction, and before long he had caught sight of the white of the banshee's dress again. He almost dashed again when he saw that the banshee wasn't alone. He stopped, hiding himself behind a tree, and watched the banshee walking to a figure that Edward found familiar, for some reason. His eyes narrowed, and when he heard the buzzing in his ears getting louder he shushed it. He needed to know what was happening in here. The creatures mumbling and muttering in his ears seemed to understand this, as they gradually grew silent, even though Edward could still feel his hair being tugged anxiously.
The banshee's hair glinted in the moonlight. The banshee lifted her hand and grabbed a fistful of it and pulled. It came loose right away, revealing dirty blonde hair tied up in a bun underneath of the messy grey tresses. Edward's eyes widened. So the fairy really was a fake after all. The question was, who was this fraud?
"I did what you asked me to," the faux banshee said to the figure. "I don't think he managed to get here, but he's probably somewhere in the woods."
"Thanks," said the figure, turning to face the faux banshee. It was a she. Edward couldn't see her face because the shades of the tree she was standing under prevented him from doing so, but her voice sounded familiar. "We need him somewhere close though. If he gets back to town it would be all for nothing. We can't have a banshee screaming in a town at the same person twice."
"Of course. That would be really suspicious. Have your brother contacted Borya yet?"
"He has. We will bring all of the preferred items to him in three days, in the evening."
Edward leaned forward, eyes growing wide. Before he could stop himself, he whispered, "Mimosa?"
The two's attention was quickly drawn towards him. Mimosa was frozen for a moment before she called out, "Edward…?"
"You're here?" Edward stepped out of his hiding place, seeing no point in hiding any longer. The buzzing in his ears intensified once more, panicked. "But I thought you were taken."
Mimosa stepped to him carefully. "Edward, I need you to listen."
Edward looked between Mimosa and the faux banshee. For some reason, she kept her face away from his line of sight. His head replayed the two girls' conversation, and suddenly it clicked. He turned to Mimosa, eyes accusing. "You did this?" he asked. "You kidnapped all those people?"
Mimosa took another step towards him. "Edward, please. I have my reasons!"
"It doesn't matter! You still took them!" Edward stepped back, intent to keep a fair distance from the girl.
Mimosa fell silent for a moment before she straightened. "I wouldn't be able make you listen, would I?" she asked, putting her hands into her skirt's pocket. When she pulled them out, she was holding a glove in each hand. She slipped them on with a grim expression in her face. "I don't want to force you to do anything, Edward, but please. Come with us quietly."
"Where are the missing townspeople?" Edward ignored Mimosa's request.
"Do you refuse to come with us?"
Edward frowned. "Yeah, I refuse."
Mimosa hung her head and sighed. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to go through this." She stretched out her left hand and waved.
Blue zapped from the transmutation circle sewn into the palm of the glove covering her left hand. The air rippled. Edward's eyes widened. It was just like when he saw the sleeping Mimosa changing into a log of wood, only in a much larger scale. His vision was flooded with bright colors pulsing quickly, making him feel dizzy just to look at them. The buzzing in his ears changed into frantic screech before they dispersed away, most likely fleeing.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw someone jumping at him. He quickly clapped and transmuted his automail into a blade, slicing away whatever coming to him, only to find it to be a small pebble instead of a threatening man. He mumbled a "What?" in confusion before he saw a big log of wood thrown to his head. He ducked and slashed the wood, only to find it to be a small twig. He turned around warily, mind quickly assessing what was going on. So Mimosa was an alchemist. The drawings of lines and circles in her house was probably her trying to practice making perfect shapes in order to create a good transmutation circle. She made illusions via transmutation… most likely, she adjusted the water molecules in the air and adjust it to reflect the light and created an image that she wanted.
It was such an advanced alchemy, too. Edward wondered how long it took her to learn it.
"I'm going to ask you this again, Edward," he heard Mimosa's voice from somewhere beyond the pulsing light. "Come with us quietly."
"What about you just let me go back to town?" Edward requested instead. He didn't like the idea of Mimosa being able to create images of whatever she liked to appear to fool him.
"We both know I can't let you do that, Edward."
Edward cursed under his breath.
"Well, I'm not listening to you either!" he yelled. "There's no point keeping me here, you know."
"Unfortunately, Edward, you're wrong." Crackles of blue caught Edward's attention, and he shouted in surprise when a large tree came crashing down to him. Not having time to dodge, he closed his eyes and tried to shield his head.
Nothing crashed to him.
He peeked to see that a small pebble lay by his side. Realizing that the tree was only an illusion and not an actual tree, he cursed at his stupidity.
Another crackle of blue drew his attention away. Another tree came crashing down at him. He dodged it while his automail sliced the tree in two. A broken twig fell pitifully to the ground.
Edward growled. "Is this all that you can do? Throwing illusions around to see if I'll fall for it? Hardly the best battle plan, don't you think?"
The third crackle of blue was hardly surprising. He stood his ground when another huge tree came to his head. He held his automail blade ahead to nick at the image of the wood to disrupt the illusion and break it, only to find that it was real wood. His eyes widened and instincts kicked in, and he jumped away from the tree, screaming obscenities and hoping he was fast enough to avoid dying from being buried under a tree. He wasn't planning to die anytime soon, and if he did plan to die it was most certainly not by getting crushed by a tree. A dog was bad enough, let alone a tree.
He was too late.
The tree crashed to the ground with a loud booming sound. Edward lay on his stomach, sore from the shockwave and unable to move because his automail foot was stuck under the wood.
"On the contrary," he heard Mimosa saying, "I think it's a pretty good battle plan." There was a pause before she asked, "Who in the world taught you to speak that way? Someone ought to take a soap and clean your mouth with it."
"Shut it!" Edward shouted. The pulsing colors slowly faded away. "Who cares about what kind of language I'm using, it's not like anyone's going to throw me to jail for it – " he stopped talking. A woman – Edward was sure it was the fake banshee – stood in front of him, peering down at him. He craned his neck to look at her face and froze instantly. The lilac dress and the white apron she was wearing, the light chestnut of her hair that was tied in a loose side ponytail, the soft smile that occupied her lips, the gentle green eyes twinkling happily at him.
It was impossible, but she was standing there right in front of him. The dead will never come back to life, his mind whispered, but he couldn't help but call, "Mom…?"
The word tasted like betrayal in his tongue.
Trisha Elric stared at him with that gentle smile he knew all too well plastered in her face. And Edward waged a war with himself. He kept telling himself that it was impossible, there was no way it was the real Trisha, it must be another part of Mimosa's illusion. But a small part of him wished that this was real, no matter how impossible it might be. He looked away and closed his eyes shut.
Something crashed to his head. The wave of pain, dizziness, and disorientation swallowed him whole, and black spots danced in his vision. He took a ragged breath, mouth forming the word 'mom' once more but his voice refused to work.
Another hit to the head, and Edward knew no more.
Roy Mustang tapped his finger on the table repeatedly. Only yesterday evening, he got a phone call from Edward. That in itself was a rarity and should be treated with caution. The fact that later on he only heard screeching and yelling had driven him to the conclusion that Edward was simply pulling a prank on him. As a response he let the receiver drop into its place on the telephone, effectively cutting the connection.
Now, though, he wasn't so sure.
It was completely possible that the call was a genuine cry of distress and a problem occurred during the connection that made the younger alchemist unable to report to him. Roy regretted having cut the call, realizing that the possibility of Edward being in trouble was very much real.
His eyes strayed over to the day's share of paperwork and they narrowed in distaste. He picked a paper from the stack and a pen and began doodling Black Hayate on it. He would probably get some scolding from Riza later, but he was in no mood to do his paperwork. No, his time was much more worthy to be used to doodle dogs on paperwork papers and worrying about his subordinate.
The phone rang loudly. He picked it up after the second ring. "Colonel Roy Mustang speaking."
"There is a call from an outside line from someone called Alphonse Elric. He claims to be brothers with Major Edward Elric, and the code matches."
"I'm taking the call," Roy answered before the lady even finished talking.
It didn't take long before he heard Alphonse's timid "Hello?" over the phone.
"Alphonse?" he called. "What's wrong? Why isn't Fullmetal the one speaking?"
There was a pause. "There is a problem, Colonel…" He heard Alphonse taking a deep breath, and he braced himself. What kind of destruction had Edward caused this time? How many houses had me managed to destroy, partially or not, through alchemy? How much property damage had he caused now? Did he need to bail the shrimp out of jail?
He wasn't prepared for Alphonse's news:
"Brother's gone missing."
A/N: I might have a thing with Edward being kidnapped. Happened in To Bleed Each Other White too, didn't it? And it might pop out in other fics too. I seriously wonder why I love that trope so much.
I have a feeling that this chapter's title doesn't really fit, but I honestly couldn't find a better one. I thought a flower that can symbolize how Ed ran off and was gone should do but I could only think of 'loss' and that's bellflower. If any of you have a better fit, please tell me, so I can change the title to fit the chapter better.
To anyone who have been suspicious about Mimosa and Ives, congrats! Your suspicion is well placed. Their motives will be explained in later chapters. I have a feeling that this won't have that many chapter though, maybe 10 at most. Which is a good thing because whenever I try to make my stories really long I tend to lose focus and interest and the quality would drop to abysmal level...
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review on your way out! Have a nice day!
*edit: I've changed the chapter title to monkshood, which might fit better. My thanks to DreamOfStories who gave me this wonderful input. You rock!