Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Devotion ❯ Part I ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Edward took another agonizing step forward, clutching weakly at the bloody gash in his side. Too much blood loss finally forced him to stop and rest for a moment before continuing his excruciating trek. He leaned against the damp stone wall, addled and breathless and slipping into unconsciousness. A cry from somewhere in the vicinity brought him violently back to reality.

“Al!” he cried in response, tears welling up in his eyes. Panic incited him to abandon the support of the wall and in his haste to reach his brother, Edward stumbled and slipped in his own blood. The tears were falling freely now as he rose painfully from the floor, the front of his body stained crimson.

Too many chimeras…he was lucky to be alive. At least eight of them had attacked him, a massive arsenal of teeth and claws at their disposal. They had managed to slice the right side of his torso and his left leg in addition to damaging his auto-mail. He didn’t understand it; the military should have had this place completely cleared out by now. As Ed stepped around rubble and debris - results of the explosion that had taken place when he and his brother had been here investigating months ago - he wondered why the mysteries of laboratory five never seemed to cease.

More blood now trickled down from his forehead where he had slipped and hit the stone. But his injuries did not matter. His little brother - his only family, his best friend, the most important person in the world to him - was in danger. All that mattered now was reaching and protecting Alphonse.

Something shifted in the shadows.

Edward froze. He barely had time to identify the sound as the clicking of razor sharp claws against the stone before it leapt at him, latching onto his left arm. Ed wailed in agony as the grotesque creature’s fangs sank deeper into his flesh, it’s wild eyes flashing with murderous intent. With another scream of pain Ed clapped his hands together and the stone cavern was illuminated with dazzling blue light as he transmuted his auto-mail into his signature blade. He thrust the blade into the chimera’s throat, and the creature released Ed’s arm with a howl of anguish. In a brief lapse of sanity the young alchemist continued to stab the wretched thing over and over, crying out all the while. The pain in his now mangled arm snapped him out of his violent stupor, and he crumpled to the ground, cradling his inured limb.

The scarlet liquid seemed to be pouring out of him, and with it his strength, hope and will to continue. His attempt to stand only resulted in a painful drop to the blood-soaked floor.

He couldn’t stop here, not when he’d finally found him. He knew Al was close, could not only hear but feel him near. After being separated for what seemed an eternity, he wanted so much to see his brother again. And not only for the sake of seeing him, of being reunited, but because he had yet to fulfill his promise. Al was still trapped inside the suit of armor, and Edward could not rest until his soul was returned to a body of flesh and blood.

Edward was losing touch with his surroundings. They began to blur and contort into unrecognizable masses that seemed to close in on him, suffocating him, crushing him. There was another cry in the distance.

“No…Al…” Ed choked, desperate to move but unable to make his body comply with his demand. “Please…” Edward begged the darkness, “I can’t…die yet…I have to-”

The very darkness he was pleading with began to consume him.


“What’s his problem anyway?” Ed mumbled to himself through a mouth full of food. “He complains about everything.”

Ed continued to eat and without thinking said, “Hey Al, pass the salt.”

When he didn’t receive a response he looked up. The chair across from him was empty and he remembered with a twinge of guilt that they had separated after their argument nearly an hour earlier. Resigning himself to the fact that he’d have to find him sooner or later, Edward hastily placed some money on the table and ran out of the café.

“Al!” he shouted as he meandered through the narrow streets of the strange town. “Al!”

Ed sighed in frustration. “Looking for him always gives me a headache,” he said to himself.

He climbed a set of stone steps and found himself on a concrete walkway, ending in a ledge that overlooked the rest of the town. Hands stuffed into his pockets, Ed approached the edge and stood behind the railing, vaguely aware of church bells chiming in the distance. His amber eyes fell upon the river, and as he gazed upon the crystalline water a childhood memory came rushing back to him.

“Edward?” Trisha said as she searched for the eldest of her two sons. She found him sitting beneath the oak tree in the yard, scowling and hugging his knees to his chest.

“Edward, I can’t find Alphonse anywhere, have you seen him?” she asked, clutching the basket of laundry in her hands worriedly.

When he continued to frown at the ground, she asked, “Did something happen?”

“Who cares where he is, I don’t,” Edward responded angrily.

Trisha’s voice softened. “Are you boys fighting?”

Ed glared into the distance. “It’s all because of him,” he explained. “Al keeps nagging me, wanting to know when dad’s coming back. Like I know,” he finished.

Trisha smiled sadly. “That can be rough,” she said, her worry dissipating somewhat. Her sons loved each other, and she knew that once Edward calmed down, he would know where to find Alphonse. Just to make sure, she added knowingly, “I sure hope nothing happens to your brother while he’s alone. If only I knew where to find him…”

She turned and carried the laundry inside, confident that within minutes Edward would cease his sulking and bring his brother home.

Edward treaded down the dirt road, his little hands clenched into fists and stuffed into his pockets. “Why am I always the one who has to do this?” he questioned angrily as he kicked at a rock.

Sure enough, he found Alphonse sitting by the river, hugging his knees to his chest as he watched the setting sun’s reflection in the water.

At the sound of footsteps, Al looked over his shoulder. Seeing that it was Ed, he leapt to his feet, raising his fists and glowering at his brother.

Ed stood there for a moment before breaking the tense silence. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Al lowered his fists, surprised at the lack of a challenge. As his brother turned and began to walk back home, however, he smiled and followed. “‘Kay.”

Ed broke his gaze from the azure water and began searching for a route down to it. If he knew his brother, that’s where he would be.

But when he reached the bank, Al was nowhere to be found. Ed walked along the bank from one edge of town to the other, but to no avail.

“That’s impossible,” he said to himself. “He always goes to the river after a fight.” As if in answer, Ed spotted three transmutation circles sketched in the ground. In the center of them were various alchemical creations; sculptures of a horse, a car, and something else that looked as if it had been kicked over. Definitely Al’s alchemy.

Before long panic set in, and Edward, after having searched the river bank several more times, sprinted into the town.

He asked everyone he met on the street if they had seen him, enduring odd looks as he described his companion as a seven-foot suit of gray armor.

After three hours Edward began to despair. He reluctantly sat down on a bench, having searched the entire town, and buried his face in his hands. Running his gloved hands through his blonde hair he contemplated the possibilities of what might have happened. There wasn’t much to consider. Al would have never abandoned him like this for so long, especially now that it was getting dark. The only thing that could have possibly happened - and Ed’s heart seemed to plummet into his gut as he realized it - is that Al had been taken away against his will.

It was Edward’s worst fear. Horrible thoughts began to race through his mind, clouding his vision with unpleasant images of Al’s armor lying lifelessly in a corner, the blood seal that bound his soul to it destroyed.

He fought back tears as he stood, struggling to maintain his composure as he ravaged his mind to produce some kind of plan. He decided it would be best to make sure others were on the lookout and made his way to the nearest phone booth.

“Central City Military Headquarters,” said a feminine voice on the telephone.

“I need to speak with Colonel Mustang,” Ed said in a shaky voice.

“One moment please,” she said.

It seemed like an eternity before Ed finally heard Roy’s voice offer, “Hello, Colonel Mustang.”

“Colonel, I can’t find Al anywhere,” Ed said in a panic, clutching the phone so tightly that the plastic groaned under the pressure.

“Fullmetal, what are you taking about?”

“Just what I said! Al is gone. Can’t you send some people to help me look for him or something?” Ed pleaded.

“Ed, where are you? What happened?” the colonel asked, concern in his voice.

Ed hadn’t planned on disclosing any information as to his whereabouts or his destination to the military, but he had no choice at this point. Finding Al took precedent over everything else.

“We’re in a town about twenty miles east of Ishbal. Or at least, I am. Al and I split up for a bit, and now I can’t find him,” he hurriedly explained.

“What the hell are you doing near Ishbal?” The colonel queried anxiously. “Don’t tell me you’re planning on going there-”

“That’s not important right now, damn it!” Ed shouted through the receiver, pounding his fist on the glass wall of the booth. “Can you help me or not?”

“I’ll alert H.Q. in East City,” he responded, obviously flustered. “That’s the closest military facility to you.”

“That’s it?” Ed complained.

The despair in his subordinate’s voice tugged at the colonel’s heartstrings. “I can arrange a search party in that area, and I’ll keep the Central branch on the lookout,” he offered, massaging his temples in frustration.

“Thanks, colonel,” Ed said, removing the receiver from his ear and placing it on the cradle. He ignored the colonel’s protests of “Fullmetal, wait!” as he hung up the phone.

Colonel Mustang glared maliciously at the phone in his hand as if it were Fullmetal himself. He slammed his hands to the desk and stood, capturing the attention of the other soldiers in the room as he surveyed it with
determined onyx eyes.

“Lieutenant Hawkeye,” he said in an authoritative tone, “Alert East H.Q. that Alphonse Elric is missing. I want them to conduct a search in all areas within thirty miles of Ishbal, as well as inside it.”

“Sir!” Hawkeye replied, saluting as she tended to her duty without question.

“Lieutenants Havoc and Breda, Sergeant Fuery-alert all of Central H.Q. immediately.”

Each responded to their orders precisely as Hawkeye had, and with the same unquestioning loyalty to their superior officer.

“After everything you and your brother have gone through, Al…” said the colonel, now alone in the room, “Don’t give up now. Don’t leave him alone now…”

Not knowing what else to do, Ed made his way once again to the riverbank, just in case he had missed something.

He reached Al’s three transmutation circles and knelt next to the one that looked as if it had been destroyed. Ed gasped as he studied it closer, recognizing it as the Ouroboros, the symbol of the homunculi. Al had raised the sand to form the pattern, but it had been scattered slightly, as if in a struggle. He wondered how Al had found time to create it.

Ed continued to kneel in the sand, overcome with misery and a sense of helplessness. So the homunculi had him. It didn’t surprise him, but…where should he look first? They could have taken him anywhere. He continued to observe his brother’s work, a flood of affection for him driving him to his feet and back into town to form some kind of plan.

Ed returned to the bench he had used earlier, easing himself to a sitting position. He was exhausted, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t rest until he found Al.

He rested his forearms on his thighs, bowing his head in thought. The homunculi had a habit of popping up all over the place; he had absolutely no idea where any of them would be. Why had they done it? The most likely reason was to use him for leverage in order to gain Edward’s cooperation, but if that was the case then why hadn’t they contacted him yet? It didn’t make any sense. Would they have taken him simply to kill him?

Ed cringed at the thought, fighting back tears for the second time that day.

“Edward, where is Alphonse? You were supposed to be watching him!”

Ed snapped his head up at the unmistakable sound of his mother’s voice. She was standing not three feet from him, her hands on her hips.

“Where is you brother, Edward?” she asked again.

Edward’s look of surprise reverted into a malicious glare as he quickly transmuted his arm into a blade, bathing himself and his enemy in the familiar blue light of an alchemical reaction. He leapt from the bench and slashed at her throat, managing to slice it before she could dodge the attack. Not that it mattered, it would take much more than that to kill a homunculus.

“Edward…” choked the false image of his mother, blood trickling down her throat. “How could you?”

“Give it up Envy!” Ed screamed, raising his blade in preparing for a fight.

A halo of light appeared at his opponent’s head and traveled down his body, each second revealing more and more of a being that was definitely not his mother. He was rather effeminate, with a slim, muscular build, unruly green hair and cold, violet eyes.

“I just can’t fool you anymore, can I pipsqueak?” Envy said with mock disappointment.

“Don’t be stupid, my mother died years ago,” Ed snapped, amber eyes burning with loathing.

“Which is why you and your brother look like freaks, yes, I know,” he stated bluntly.

“Where is Alphonse?” Ed demanded as Envy grinned smugly at him. “What have you done with my brother?”

Envy laughed. “Calm down pipsqueak, there’s no need to get angry. He’s damaged considerably, but he’s alive. Well…as alive as a soul trapped in a suit of armor can be.”

“Take me to him, or I’ll-” Ed began.

“Or you’ll what?” Envy cut in, obviously enjoying himself. “You can’t kill me, and even if you could you’d still need me in order to find your brother.” Envy stepped closer to Ed and looked him straight in the eye. “I’m calling the shots here, and if you don’t like it you can say goodbye to your tin can of a brother, got it?”

Defeated, Edward lowered his blade. His voice, however, lost none of it’s former rage. “What do you want?”

Envy stepped back, satisfied with Ed’s submission. “I want to test you,” he explained. “To test your devotion to your brother.”

Ed continued to watch him, dreading his next words.

“She says that you’re just like him,” Envy spat, suddenly angry. “That you’re just like that bastard.”

Ed eyed the monster in front of him with confusion.

“We’ll see whether or not that’s true, if you’re as devoted to you brother as you say you are, or if you’re all talk, like he was.” Envy paused for a moment, then added, “We’ll see how far you will go for him.”

Though he didn’t show it, Envy was nearly going mad with the amount of repulsion he felt towards the boy in front of him. But he couldn’t kill him. Dante had forbid it. So this was all he could do. If the brat could prove he was not like his father, if he could prove that he wouldn’t abandon those he claimed to love when circumstances became difficult, well, it would be much easier to restrain himself from murdering Edward, his half-brother. He’d then be able to focus more of his hatred on Hoenheim, who had abandoned him for Edward, Alphonse, and their mother.

Not only that, but this gave him a chance to torture the sons of Hoenheim. He’d been following Dante’s orders for a long time. Now it was time to have some fun of his own.