AN: So my health took a dip which is why I abruptly stopped the updates. I also burnt myself out. However, the majority of the future chapters are finished and everything should be posted in a few months.

Chapter 18 - God's Will

"You know, I'm really thankful," he said, looking over the city.

"For what?" his friend asked.

He smiled into the warm breeze that flowed through the palace, "Because you gave me knowledge, I'm able to live a good life like this. I'm also happy to be in Master's favour."

"It may be possible that I can marry someone in the future and start my own family."

"A family, eh? Humans are inconvenient creatures, aren't they? The species can't live on unless they all create a community and expand."

Hohenheim rolled his eyes, "Don't talk like that. It may be stupid in your eyes, but having friends and family may bring one happiness. For us humans, that is."

"Really?" the Dwarf in the Flask asked. "Then what do you consider happiness? Let's see I don't want to be too greedy, but I guess being able to leave this flask would make me happy."

But it was a lie.

For all the Homunculus was… was greed.

He had never helped Slave 23 for his own sake, not out of compassion, nor even out of pity.

No, the Dwarf in the Flask, had been purely self-serving, and with Slave 23's help, his entire country had paid the price.

His people.

His world.

Trapped inside him.

Their voices crying out in fear and for mercy.

All their broken dreams.

For his immortality.

Edward came to, voice catching on a scream, wanting nothing more than to claw at his skin. But he found that his arms were full.

He was cradling two babies to himself, their nakedness only slightly obscured by blood. His blood.

The baby boy was bald and the girl had wispy blonde hair.

Both babes had golden skin nearly as dark as his own. The male child had Ed's mark only in reverse the alchemical symbol for gold marked his shoulder and the dragon wound down arm, its head on the back of his hand while the girl had the same symbol only it was on the back of her hand while the dragon's head at her shoulder. If the two held hands the birthmarks would make a loop. Not of one dragon eating another but two dragons caught in an eternal dance.

The same as Ed and Persephone's marks.

"Ed?"

He looked up to see Ling and Greed standing next to each other, staring down at him with the same worried look.

"Ed?" Ling asked again, dropping to his knees beside him, pulling up his sleeve to look at his flesh arm. The mark had scabbed over, but the blood on top had yet to dry.

The babies began to wiggle and made motions to cry.

Teacher swooped in to take them, cooing.

Greed took a step back, "Are they— Is that Lust and Gluttony?"
Ed nodded, feeling dizzy, he leaned into Ling to stay upright. "The mark, it was the key to completing a homunculus, they are human now."

"Blood of your blood?" Greed asked, taking another step back.
"Yes, Truth said they are my siblings," Ed answered.

"Makes sense, they are closer to clones than being born from you," Ling said.

But Greed shook his head, "Did they lose their memories or are they babies with decades of memories?"

Ed shook his head, "Truth said the price of Teacher and Sig passing through the Gate was Lust and Gluttony's wisdom and memories."

Greed stepped back from him, retreating. "That's not what I want."

Ed looked at him, "Greed—"

Greed shook his head, "Goodbye, Edward Hughes."

Then he disappeared into the night.

Ed sighed, then looked at Teacher, "I don't know what to do with them if Greed doesn't want—"

"We will take them," Sig said.

Teacher nodded as Sig wrapped her and the babies, "We always wanted children."

Ed smiled even as his vision swam, "I'm glad."

Ling hugged him, "You can pass out now."

Ed closed his eyes, "Thanks."

He didn't remember much after that.

oOo

Izumi and Sig seemed as devoted parents as Maes and Gracia to their newly adopted kids, Lust and Gluttony, who they named Isa and Ion Curtis.

Ling leaned into his side on the train and asked, "What did you see?"

"What?" was Ed's intelligent response.

"You woke crying, Ed."

Ed swallowed, leaning into Ling a little harder. "I saw what happened to Xerxes. It fell in a single night and my father, Hohenheim, was an unwilling accomplice. It was a country wide array, and they made every single man, woman, child, and infant, into a philosopher's stone."

Ling stared at him, "Is that going to happen to Amestris?"

Ed stilled, his mind going blank.

"Ed?"

Ed swore, as a deep fear settled in his gut.

oOo

Ed had more than enough research prepared for his first year of evolution. In fact, now that Teacher had gone over his research, they had picked out a select few arrays they planned to publish with the intent of seeing how it would be used and how useful it was in practice.

But, it seemed, Ed had made too many enemies, because his evolution turned out to be a dual with Brigadier General Grand.

The Iron Blood.

"Promise me, Ed," his dad said, gripping his shoulders too tightly. "Promise me you won't die."

Ed nodded, "Dad, I promise. I can handle this."

And he could, but he knew he would have to reveal more of himself than he would like.

Grand was poorly contained fury when Ed stepped into the rink with him.

Burries had been arranged to make a designated fight zone.

Ed had already done a preliminary survey of the other when he was informed he would have to duel to keep his certification.

The crowd was tense and silent.

And the fight started with a bang.

Ed clapped, letting the energy build as Grand fired an alchemic canon at him from his hand.

Ed jumped.

Grand's explosives were not primarily based on ignition but force. Their power came from the rapid increase of the density of matter that he then used to propel them forward.

So heavy that when they hit they killed.

But it was in no way as fast as an actual canon or gun.

Ed front flipped over the canon and kept his back arched so he could brush his fingers over the canon ball.

He had forgone his layers and gloves today despite how many people would see his arm and tattoo scar.

So he felt the heat of the iron can as he transmuted it into glass sand.

It fell to the street like a sheet of rain.

Thus robbing Grand's bang of an explosion.

Grand's eyes were narrowed on him now.

Ed hadn't wanted anyone to know he could transmute without a circle. But Grand was out for blood and he knew it would be exposed to the people who mattered.

Ed brushed off his shoulder, "That the best you got, Brigadier?"

The man growled soundlessly as he transformed more of himself into a weapon.

Ed clapped and dropped to the ground.

As Grand fired the Earth beneath his feet burst open to one of the waterways that connected to the canal.

Grand's shots went wide and Ed half froze the water.

The Brigadier struggled, transforming his body back to normal as he struggled to get out of the flooding pit. The ground was covered in ice but the constant rush of water made it dangerously slippery.

Grand ended up upholding his breath and going under to transform the piping to rise up out of the flood pit.

Ed didn't give him time to retaliate. Instead, he transformed the water into spikes, taking Grand up by the uniform and ending with points of ice at his throat.

There was roaring and clapping all around from the gathered crowd, but judging by the fire in Grand's eyes, Ed knew this was far from over.

oOo

A few months passed, and nothing happened.

Not with the homunculi and not with Grand.

Though Ling and Ed had grown closer and Teacher and Sig were delighting in their new children.

They sent a lot of pictures.

Maes was already planning a vacation to see Ed's 'cousins.'

Tonight, Ed was running a little late due to an old lady asking him to build her a handicapped bathroom.

Hardly anyone called him Fullmetal anymore, everyone called him either the People's Alchemist or the People's Man. People who knew he either called him Ed or Hughes.

It was rather gratifying.

Though it was tiring. Ed took the long way, walking the streets, not in the mood to hop roofs tonight.

Of course, apparently, the murderers it seemed were in the mood for doing dramatically energy-tasking things.

Ed flipped backwards as Scar reached out a hand and deconstructed a lamp post.

"What do you want!?" Ed yelled as he backed up rapidly.

"Foolish alchemists who have turned their backs on the ways of God...shall all be punished," Scar preached.

Ed growled, "I'm a plumber!"

Scar scowled, "All Amestrians are liars."

Ed clapped, creating a makeshift flare, a second clap had it let and drop kicked it into the sky.

There were enough people on patrol around the city that someone would notice.

Then he was running.

Scar was fast, impossibly fast, but Ed was young and knew this city.

Ed was tearing up the road as he ran straight down the street, making Scar have to either jump, destroy, or steer around each obstacle.

He was betting the man wouldn't be able to keep this up longer than Ed could.

But after several blocks, Ed was beginning to believe that nothing but one of Hawkeye's sniper shots would take this guy out.

Which begged the question, where was everyone?

Everyone seemed to be stationed elsewhere.

He didn't think it was a coincidence.

Ed tried to create a sinkhole, but Scar simply lept over it.

An image of Maes's face flashed through Ed's mind.

If he died here, like this, it would crush his father.

Cursing, Ed veered into an abandoned district. Though he didn't want to bring the people living there more ills, there were fewer people and families there. And the people who did live there typically knew trouble when they saw it.

Ed punted another flare.

Then he turned around to fight.

"What do you think your God thinks of your actions?" Ed asked as he pulled up streams of water around himself.

Scar glared at him, "I am walking down a path of no return, so I will leave behind me every gift I've received from God."

"What if I wanted to help your people rebuild?" Ed asked.

Scar bared his teeth, "You are swine!"

Ed's heart fell, there was no reasoning with this man and as each minute passed, he began to believe that no one was coming to help him.

Ed clapped and held out his hands into the water, shooting shards of ice at the man and then melting it before refreezing it.

Scar stayed pinned for all of five seconds and ran at him. Scar got too close and spoke as he did, "By clasping your hands, you make an array with your body and circulate the alchemic reaction within. I know your secret, and without this sinful arm, you cannot transmute quickly. That is your weakness!"

Only a childhood of sparing with inhumans allowed Ed to twist out of the way.

Scar destroyed the ground beneath Ed and he tripped back, falling on his ass.

Cold fear filled Ed as he watched in slow motion as Scar came at him.

Either Scar's palm would destroy Ed, leave him as nothing more than blood smear on the alley walls, or he would crush the ground and Ed would be crushed in the turned earth.

He knew one way or another, this would end in death.

His death.

Ed brought his own palms down on the earth, energy sparked around him in blue light.

He had promised Maes he would live.

He had promised.

The ground rose in a spike and as fast as Scar was, his momentum was too great to change direction.

The Alchemist Killer impaled himself on the stone.

The world seemed to stop, Scar's glasses falling off, his red iris's bright with shock.

He coughed blood, folding over his ruined centre.

"I'm sorry," Ed said, shaking with the horror of what he had just done; with the choice he had just made. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Scar stared at him, his breath laboured, "You apologize— to an Ishvalan?"

Tears spilled down Ed's cheeks, remembering what his birth father had lived through. "I'm not just an Amestrisain, I'm Xerxian too."

Something flashed over Scar's expression, "Then don't cry for me, golden child. This was God's will."

Ed felt his heart constrict, "I'll help your people, your culture, I won't let them be forgotten."

Scar's lips curved upwards in an almost smile before whispering a prayer too softly for Ed to catch. His eyes gazed up at the moon as light and life left him.

Blood continued to spill from the body, steining Ed's gloves where he knelt alone.

He had never killed anyone before, had done his damnedest to make himself invaluable as something other than a weapon.

And the first man he killed was an Ishvalan.

If this was God's will, then it was a God he would never dare to worship.

oOo

AN: Thoughts, jaguars, or feedback on the chapter, pretty please?