Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Departure ❯ Broken heart ( Chapter 7 )

Departure VII

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me and I make no money from this work of fanfiction at all.

Pairings: Ed and Roy, others mentioned.

Warning: Divergence from episode 13, emo!Roy, written for shit and giggles. Hopefully not too OOC, and if they are, someone please tell me?

A/N: Now for plot, now that we've established that Ed is a normal teenager.


Colonel Roy Mustang sat, elbows on his desk, chin resting against his gloved fists, contemplating something in the middle distance. It was after dark, he could be totally honest with himself. He could admit he was looking at something only he could see.

At one point, the spells had eased off- nearly non-existent. Hughes and Gracia had kept a steady watch, pouring so much glue over the cracks in his spirit that he had held together, almost believing he was a living human being again.

Then he had found a letter; the letter sent by two boys pleading for help finding their father. Not for themselves, but for their mother who missed their father so very much.

It would have been none of his business if it hadn't been for two things. The letter was asking for Hohenhiem of Light- possibly the most wanted and legendary alchemist of their time. Another was the return address.

The Rockbells had told Roy so much about Risembool. How the sky went on forever and the air was sweet with flowers. That it was green, so different from the harshness of the desert. There was a house and a family business in automail- Mom could give you a good deal if you ever needed one. Oh yes- our daughter is going to be turning eight soon! Isn't she beautiful? She takes so much after her mother...

Even now, after all these years, shaking off their memory was hard. He knew he had to stop before the final one paraded through.

Going to Risembool was something he owed those two doctors. To somehow apologize, on his knees, to the little girl who deserved to hold the gun that did him in.

The dreams had started again once he had made the decision to leave.

The spells had started back when he had seen what was inside that house.

He had barely made himself follow the trail of blood to the house- where the sign of Rockbell decorated the door. Part of him had wondered what would have happened if he'd lost his nerve and walked away.

Inside he found two things: two boys, and an opportunity.

Two broken children who needed a direction and a purpose, because what they had attempted had so obviously failed. He could give them that purpose, and make use of their talents. Talents they had to have- most would have died after a rebound like that.

He could guide them on their path, and he could keep them out of the clutches of the ones who would use them. Like he had been used, an idealistic man wanting to do his best for his country.

Using them for their good. He was turning more and more into his superiors that he wanted to be sick.

Roy looked down, at his hands.

They weren't covered in blood, but he could smell it, the cooked smell of burned flesh, feel the lipids around his mouth from where he'd blown up another town. His mouth was dry from the desert heat even if the night was bone-chillingly cold.

There was a gun in his hand- his ignition gloves were covered in powder residue, but he was in his office.

His heart tried to escape his chest via his throat.

Standing slowly, he edged around his desk, glancing down then looking away in denial.

Fullmetal was there, in a pool of his own blood. The shot had barely missed the automail, going through his shoulder. Al was lying there too- though how a suit of armor could be covered in blood-

"Colonel?"

That was impossible, he knew there was no body in that suit of armor but he had to look anyway, and he walked over and-

"Colonel!"

"First Lieutenant?" he asked, jerking upwards.

He was kneeling in front of one of his couches, hand reaching out to... He had no idea.

"Are you all right, sir?" she asked, cautiously. She had never seen him in the middle of an episode before.

He nodded, wiping sweat from his face with weak fingers. His back popped as he stood. There were no bodies. There was no blood. How could there be? Ed and Al were on their way to see the Crystal Alchemist, and hopefully away from whatever Gran had planned.

"I'll be fine," he answered, in absolute truth. He would be- just not right now. Hawkeye did not look convinced.

"Are you sure you should have let those boys go? You know your judgement is clouded when it comes to them."

Mustang rubbed his nose. She just had to point that out.

"Hughes has his people on it- people he trusts. Not only that, Armstrong is watching their back."

Riza hid her flinch. "Colonel, you know that man is as conspicuous as an elephant among fish. He is too..." She left the sentence hanging. Roy smiled a bit.

"And there is no one that Gran is likely to dismiss more."

Hawkeye's face relaxed as she caught his meaning. They were silent a few moments.

"Do you know what Gran is planning?"

Mustang shook his head, letting a sigh shrug his shoulders. "I have an idea." He twisted, turning to look out his office window, and frowned when he saw several dark cars park before the entrance.

"And I don't think we'll have that long to wait."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Marco? Don't you mean Marou? Yeah, he's the guy that treated my leg when it got caught under the mower! I was afraid I was a goner!"

At first, they had been afraid it was the wrong person.

"Dr. Marco? The only doctor around here is Dr. Marou. Maybe someone gave you the wrong name?"

They started to figure out the alias by the fifth time.

"Dr. Marou? Good man, he treats people who can't pay him and that other doctors give up on!"

Ed wondered, privately, if the man was trying for sainthood. Though it didn't make sense if the man was trying to be inconspicuous.

"There was this red flash of light!"

That was the best thing he had heard all day.

The small town reminded him somewhat of Risembool, a good place to sit and forget your troubles. Particularly with a large glass of lemonade.

"This is where they said he lives?" Al asked, as they approached an unobtrusive stone house.

"Yup. They all said it was the house on this hill. I hope he's in."

It had taken Ed a while to notice the mountain of a man following them, but eventually he did. He promptly pulled Al into a haystack. The man looked hopeless, gazing for them- but Ed had seen the silver watch, and had recognized him from coming with Hughes and the Fuhrer.

"Maybe we can lose him?" Al had whispered, before they made a run from the house. The man didn't seem to be in sight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ed was rapidly revising his wish for Marco to be in when he found himself face to face with a rusted pistol.

"Uh..."

"Dr. Marco?" Al said weakly, "We're here to talk to you..."

"I won't go back!" the man in the door yelled. He held a gun like he had never seen one before in his life. "I can't go back! I won't- not to the experiments, not to any of it! I refuse! You'll have to kill me!"

There was a brief silence as they digested his words, his stance, the sweat dripping down his face.

"Its all right, Dr. Marco," Al said, getting between his brother and the gun.

Ed actually thought of something intelligent to say. "Mustang sent us."

Marco's arms slacked, eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Colonel Bastard told me to get the story from you. What's so bad about the Philosopher's Stone?" Ed stepped around his brother, walking closer. "My brother and I have been searching for it for years. We need to know why."

Marco blinked, then looked at Al, then at Ed, and Al again.

"I get it. You're him, right? The Fullmetal Alchemist."

"No, you see-"

Ed tried to hold down his spastic twitches. Don't kill the old geezer, he told himself. Don't kill the old geezer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Marco calmed down enough to let Ed and Al in, his expression resigned. It made Ed sick.

"Listen, I know what happened in Ishbal. You used prototype Stones and killed a lot of people. Mustang told me."

Marco's eyebrow's went up. Ed guessed he hadn't expected him to be so blunt, but Ed was tired of waiting. He had been waiting three years.

"Ishbal was just one chapter, but its all Mustang knows about. Thank god. Even I don't know all the details about the war- other than what we were ordered to do."

Marco looked down at his folded hands. "There is nothing I can do to make up for what I've done. Even killing myself- that wouldn't even begin to pay back my debt.'

Ed narrowed his eyes. "I don't want to hear your whining about your debts. Tell me what happened, Marco. I didn't come out here to hurt you or betray you or anything- Mustang wouldn't have told me if he thought I would. I know what Basque Gran ordered him to do. I know that there is an evil presence in the military. I don't want them to get the Stone any more than you do. If its as bad as you say..."

He hadn't realized until this moment that this was the course he would take. If it was as bad as Marco said, then he would find another way. He could never give up on finding a cure for his brother- but he knew, deep down, that some prices just couldn't be paid.

"I'll try to find another way."

Al shifted, behind him, though he thought he felt approval radiating off the armor.

Marco smiled just a bit. "Its not worth it, you know. For everything you get, you have to give. And maybe give more than you ever wanted. The Philosopher's Stone has been investigated by the State for years. I can't tell you all the reasons. As a weapon, as a cure for illness, and as a way to prevent other countries from attacking us. In the name of science, we did unspeakable things. Human transmutation was just one of them."

Ed felt as if he'd eaten shrapnel.

"My research isn't here- its all in the First Branch library. So don't ask about that." Marco absently rubbed the back of his neck. "I headed the research for a while. But, you wanted the truth. You may not be able to handle it all, but here is the truth of the Philosopher's Stone."

Holding his breath seemed childish, until he realized his lungs were burning. With a faint gasp, Ed tried to brace himself.

"To make the Philosopher's Stone, it takes lives. Not just one or two, either. It takes hundreds- if not thousands. We had slain hundreds to get the prototype we used during the war. A race of people, or a city-state, might be enough to make the perfect finished product."

Silence. Ed thought the sound of birds twittering outside the window seemed completely unreal. Surely, after such a pronouncement, the world had to have noticed. Instead the birds were singing, the wind was blowing and cows were lowing to be milked. Didn't they care that something so horrible had happened? That all of their hopes had been... stopped?

"Dr. Marco- surely you must be-"

"There is no mistake, Edward, Alphonse," Marco said softly, looking up at them. His eyes were haunted as Mustang's- but worse. Here was a man who believed he was beyond hope or redemption. "That is exactly what it takes, to make a Philosopher's Stone."

Ed shuddered, running his hand over his face. Hope hated to die. "Can we see it? Can we try to find out what went wrong, why it takes that to make it successful?"

"Then what, when you find out you can do nothing else? Give up? Or will you be lured in to what the Military promises? Will you let yourself be turned into-"

"I never sold my soul to them," Ed countered, standing up. "My soul is mine, right here." He pointed to his chest- and then at the boy with him. "So let me see if I can fix whatever is wrong with it!"

"No, Ed-"

Getting up, Ed started to feverishly search the room- finally noticing the false wall. Clapping his hands, he opened it, barely noticing Marco's soft gasp.

"Alchemy without circles?"

"Brother, maybe we should-"

"I have to see it, Al! I have to know."

A small red vial sat innocently in a medicine bag. "Red water? No... its so much clearer..."

He picked it up with his false hand, eying the clear glass, and the clear red fluid in it.

"Ed, you should put it down. You can't do anything with it," Al protested, trying to take it from him. The blond didn't answer, still staring, before turning to Marco.

"What is this, exactly? Others had pieces of it- like that fake preacher in Lior."

"It's a scrap of the unfinished stone material," the older gentleman said, warily. "There is... much more... back in that place."

"That place?" Ed vaguely recalled Mustang mentioning "that place". "Where they do the research?"

Marco nodded, running his hands through his hair in a harried gesture. "Where they... do the research. Not just on the Stone, but on chimeras... and humans."

Ed chewed his bottom lip. Here was the potential answer to all his hopes...

"Ed, let it go," Al whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find another way."

Shuddering, his fingers twitched, unfeeling- and the bottle dropped from his metal fingers. It shattered- and the red material curled up on itself, into a small clear lump of red.

"Eh?"

"The Celestial Stone," a voice quoted from the doorway, and everyone turned to see.

"The Sage's Stone, the Red Tincture, the Crimson Elixir, the Fifth Element... Its not going to be content with just one shape, Fullmetal boy."

A woman, inky hair dripping over a deathly pale face stood in the doorway, with a mocking smile.

"Long time no see- to all of you," she murmured, eyeing Marco like a desert. "I see you didn't run far enough, Doctor."

"NO! I'm not going back! I'm too stained! I can't!"

Ed didn't move- instead staring at woman. "You know her? She-"

"She's one of them! We have to get out of here! I can't go back!" his voice rose hysterically. That made the decision for him.

"Al!" he ordered, turning to the far wall and clapping his hands. He knew his brother would grab the other man, who had snatched his pistol. Before he could fire there was a new back door for them to escape through- which they used, running down the hill.

"Its no use, they know now! They're going to come after us and take us there!" Marco's eyes were wide and his face covered in sweat. Ed and Al exchanged a look- but the woman who was after them was already leaping out the door to give chase.

"The train station?"

"We have to lose her first!"

"Then what? Back to East City?"

"Yeah, Mustang might be able to-"

"Right-"

"Okay! Now let's get the fuck-"

The town was growing up around them as they ran- and they all, as a group, slammed bodily into someone.

He was tall, Ed noted. Of course, most people- were, ah, older than he was.

Even running for his life he couldn't say the "s" word.

White hair, a scar poorly concealed behind shades... "Hey, I know you don't I?"

The man gave them all a wolfish smile. "Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric." His gaze shifted the frightened man in Al's arms. "Crimson Alchemist Marco. God smiles on me this day..."

"What the fuck?"

"I appreciate you slowing them down for me, Scarred Man," that sultry voice cut in, again. "But I'm afraid I can't allow you to harm them quite yet."

Ed, Al, and Marco suddenly knew what a cornered mouse felt like. There were two hungry cats looking at them- and Ed had a wonderful idea.

"Hey- look at the time! We've got to go see you!" he babbled. "You'll have to fight each other for us! See you all later!"

The Scarred Man didn't seem to care- he was staring at the dark woman in shocked surprise.

"You..?"

After that, Ed didn't really care.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The train was about to leave when they hit the station- something they were profoundly happy about. If it was leaving now, then those two couldn't catch up to them until later. They could figure out the why, then, too.

The dash for the train was something Ed and Al both exceeded at- and when they were on board, the silver pocket watch got them seats.

"You think... we lost them?" Al muttered, as they looked around for their pursuers. Ed didn't know why, but he expected them to suddenly materialize on the train. After all, they had seemed to appear out of thin air anyways.

"Yeah... unless they can outrun a train, which I don't think they can."

Marco had calmed down considerably- the idea of two youngsters protecting him seemed to have helped his nerves considerably.

All three (even Al, who didn't have lungs) breathed a sigh of relief.

There was silence again, as the train chugged along.

"Think Mustang will have an idea of what's going on?" Ed asked, murmuring quietly at Al.

"I hope-"

Al stopped. Ed looked up at him, who was staring at the man in the row next to them.

"Excuse me, sir," the large boy in armor said, gently plucking the newspaper from the man's fingers. He didn't say anything because when someone that much bigger than you asks for something... you generally give it.

The front page, in ugly black and gray, stated boldly:

FLAME ALCHEMIST ROY MUSTANG

EXECUTED AFTER ADMITTING TO HUMAN TRANSMUTATION

To be continued.