Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Faces of Hatred ❯ An Unexpected Ally ( Chapter 1 )

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

An Unexpected Ally

It wasn't long after we arrived at the home of Alphonse Heidriche that boredom began to set in. It's not that I have a short attention span, it's just that he & Ed talked for hours about their research, and I'm not exactly a scientist. Actually that's an understatement, I'm completely inept when it comes to science, especially in such an unfamiliar world as this one.
I sat next to Ed for a while, idly twirling one of the many knives I carried on my person, that is until the two of them gave me a quizzical look that made me feel kind of uncomfortable. It was at that time that Alphonse (who reminded me so much of Al for some reason) suggested I check out the library located in the back of his house.
After a few minutes of searching I found a book that caught my interest. The title read “Gods Heroes and Demons of Greek Mythology”. After about an hour I had read the book from cover to cover.
It was nearly ten at night when Ed walked in and interrupted my reading. I thought he was going to say something sarcastic, like call me a bookworm, or compare me to Schezka. Don't get me wrong, I had liked Schezka, but I found her reading and memorizing volumes of books word for word somewhat disturbing.
Instead, he surprised me by asking, “Anything good in there?” I waited a minute before I answered.
“Yeah” I replied. “Nothing I think you'd enjoy though.” For all the volumes on alchemy he had read when we were kids, Ed didn't seem to enjoy literature.
“Try me.”
I scanned the pages in front of me and told him the story they held. “Here's a story about Iole.”
“Who?”
“She was the daughter of the rainbow goddess, and she was head-over-heels in love with the hero Hercules.” Ed just rolled his eyes. I continued on like I hadn't noticed. “But Hercules didn't feel the same way about her, and worse she became the love interest of a huge snake-monster named Ladon who was a pawn of the evil goddess Hera to kill Hercules”
“What did Hercules do” he asked. Ed wasn't much of a romantic, and I could tell he wasn't enjoying the story, but he appeared to be following along for my sake.
“Ladon became jealous of him and tried to swallow him whole. Instead Hercules thrust his sword up through the roof of creature's mouth, killing him instantly.”
“Did they ever end up together?”
“There are a couple of different versions, in some they did, in others Iole was killed just as Hercules realized he loved her.” We were silent for a moment before I decided it was getting unnerving. “Where did Alphonse go?”
“He took off to the train station. He has some business to take care of a couple towns over.”
“So does that mean we have the house to ourselves?” I asked mischievously.
I was expecting an indignant answer but our conversation was interrupted by a cold voice.
“Not quite.”
We both stood up to face the newcomer. At first I thought it was the woman I had seen at the station since they wore the same dark cloak with the hood drawn down so low it shadowed their face. But this person was both shorter, and more masculine in stature.
“Edward Elric?” he asked. His voice confirmed he was male.
“That depends on who's asking?” Ed replied in a defiant tone. While they spoke I discretely pulled a small knife from where it was concealed in my clothes. The apparition continued.
“I'm here on behalf of an old friend of yours.” The way he seemed to smirk beneath his hood when he said “friend” made it quite plain that Ed and this person were not on friendly terms.
“Who wants to see me?” Ed continued, he seemed aware of what I was doing and trying to buy me time. Instead of reassuring me however, this made me worry how obvious my endeavor was to our assailant. Still, the man in the cloak continued.
“It's of no consequence to you” the figure said impassively. “You're coming with me or I'll have to take more drastic measures.” As he spoke he raised his arm, which seemed to be holding a long sharp, blade-like weapon.
There was no time to hesitate now, it was obvious this guy meant business. In a second I had raised my knife and thrown it into his shoulder (I figured that if I hurt him, but didn't kill him we could get more information on his “employer”).
I had little time to be proud of my marksmanship however. Not only did he seem un-phased by the knife's direct impact into his right shoulder, he didn't even bleed when he pulled it out. I caught a closer glimpse, under his cloak, at his arm. He hadn't been holding a weapon, his arm was the weapon!
“Tsk, tsk, you should have known better than to pull a futile trick like that on a homunculus, Sharee” it said in that same cold, emotionless voice.
I don't know what scared me more, what I was up against or the fact that it knew my name!
“Don't come near her!” Ed thundered at the creature
“Fine, she'll just have to come to me.” I had no time to move as his blade hand became a long, whip-like tentacle that wrapped me around the waist, pulled me into his grasp and became a blade again, this time held against my neck. “You know Edward, the most danger she's in, really isn't from the wounds I can inflict on her, it's the poison. The last person I slashed suffered the slightest laceration on the shoulder before he broke into convulsions, and died in under a minute.” I could almost hear the smirk that was forming on his lips as he spoke. “I think you'll find it wise to come with me.”
His other arm suddenly shifted into a long black appendage that shot out from under his cloak and coiled itself around Ed's waste, binding his arms to his sides. I was surprised that Ed had made no move to attack. Before the homunculus began to drag us from the house he added “and abandon any thoughts you have about using alchemy. If I feel your arms shift at all, I'll poison her.”
That surprised me. Did this creature have no Idea that Ed couldn't use alchemy in this world? But that didn't matter, because whatever advantage that might have given us was long gone.
I suppose I could have tried something, but there was still the possibility
that he'd constrict his grip on Ed in one bone-crushing second. Not to mention how dangerously close his poisonous blade was to my throat. I could scarcely breathe, for fear of cutting myself.
He continued to drag me and Ed out the house and into the dark, cold, and empty street. He held his blade-arm to my neck, pushing me along with his own body, all the while, pulling Ed along with his other leash-arm.
I hoped desperately that Ed was forming an idea since I couldn't. One glance back at him (which I was very careful to make discrete so as not to arouse our assailant's suspicion) showed that he was just as nervous and worried as I was at the moment. That was what really scared me. Ed was quick to think, and even reckless at times, but now he seemed like he'd given up. If he was worried then what hope did I have.
The homunculus continued to drag us down the street with no signs of stopping or any hint of where we were going. He seemed to be much more gentle with me than he was being with Ed. Once he even tugged at Ed so hard he tripped. Instead of stopping however, the homunculus continued to drag Ed until he regained his footing.
“Stop it!” I cried “You're hurting him!” I couldn't manage to keep my voice level so my command came out as more of a whimper. The creature only chuckled in a low and cold manner.
“The great Fullmetal Alchemist needs protection from his little girlfriend?” He let every word drop slowly from his mouth like distilled poison. “Don't bother Sharee. That blonde runt never even looks twice at you, yet you follow him around like a loyal shepard-bitch. Why do you even bother.” To my surprise Ed made no protest against the comment about his height, as he was prone to do. Why was this thing making height jokes when he was about Ed's height, I thought angrily to myself.
Besides that, how did he know so much about us? He even knew about things that had only happened in Amestris. That was the only way he could have known Ed's
state-alchemist title.
No sooner was I pondering this when a lone dark figure leapt off one of the nearby roofs to land gracefully on her feet in front of us. She was tall and clad in a black cloak, similar to the one the homunculus was wearing. I was sure it was the woman I had seen at the train station, but was she our friend, or his?
“I was wondering when you would rear your ugly head, Hate” she said in a low sultry voice.
“Likewise, Lust” Hate replied.
The woman lowered her hood, and with a shock I recognized that it was Lust standing in front of us. I glanced back at Ed to see his mouth hanging wide open. He looked like someone had slapped him and he hadn't quite figured it out yet.
I took a second look at Lust. She seemed very different from the woman we had known in Amestris. Her once long flowing dark hair was now shoulder-length, and held back in a ponytail. Her once smooth pale skin was now lightly tanned. And most of all, her red eyes were no longer impassive, and slitted. They seemed warmer, and more human.
The homunculus, who I now knew to be Hate continued. “That's right Lust. Dante and I are very much aware of your existence, as well as your recent activities.”
I tensed. Dante?! No, it couldn't be the same person. That made no sense. And yet the more I thought about it, the more sense everything else made. How else could he have known so much about us. A brief look back at Ed told me he was contemplating the same thing.
Hate continued on as if he had never felt my reaction to this new knowledge of Dante. “Although I must say I am impressed at how quickly you seem to have gathered information about us. But then again, you always were good at gathering information.”
Lust scoffed “Dante was quite ironic in her views of humans. She thought they were so hopelessly stupid, yet she depended on their talents to make her a Philosopher's Stone. She claimed to abhor human's creation of homunculi, but she had no qualms about exploiting them for her own ends. Sometimes I even wonder if she was responsible for the creation of Greed & Pride.” Lust seemed to grow angrier with every sentence. “I think it's time I showed her the true mettle of humans!”
Simultaneously, her hands shot out from under her cloak, as her fingers extended into ten long black lances. One hand knocked the blade away from my throat, and pushed me aside so quickly I was surprised her claws didn't scratch me. She used the other hand to sever the arm that held Ed. Then she proceeded to slash Hate while he was still stunned. In the midst of the fray Hate lost his cloak, and for the first time I got a good look at our adversary.
What I saw almost made me vomit. Not because he was ugly, but because he had the same face of someone I knew. . . Ed's. Hate looked just like Ed. A twisted and warped version of Ed.
His hair was held back in a braid, exactly how Ed wore his, but it was as dark the night sky. His eyes were large and vibrant like Ed's, but they were blue, and cold as ice, full of rage and hatred.
I looked closer, and noticed a chain collar around his neck. It was drilled into the back of his neck with a bolt that looked to be the size of my thumb, right in the center of his Oroboorus mark. A barely visible transmutation circle was engraved on the head.
Lust retracted her claws as Hate fell to the ground, into that temporary death that homunculi suffer when they are severely wounded. She quickly grabbed Ed and I by the arms and half led, half dragged us through the city streets. At last we arrived at a carriage she had hidden in one of the nearby stables. She threw us into it and told us “Stay down and keep quiet until we reach the country.
With that said she pulled up her hood, and leapt into the driver's seat. She drove the horse's so fast, I got sick every time I looked out at the city, whizzing past us. I tried to ask Ed what his opinion was on this strange turn of events. Sure, Lust had helped us in the past, but could we really trust her? But at this moment, I preferred her company over Hate's.
I just couldn't get that image out of my mind. He looked so much like Ed. But Ed was kind to me, even though not in the way I desired. Hate had threatened to kill me in a very grotesque way.
My mind was spinning with worry and questions. Why did Hate look like Ed? Why was Dante around? She had used alchemy in this world to make a homunculus, what else could she do? Did she have a new body, or was she still rotting in Lyra's? Why was Lust here? Was she really human? If she was why did she still have her powers?
All this thinking made me dizzy, and I soon fell asleep. Not a peaceful sleep however, as it was disturbed by perpetual nightmares. Most of which involved Ed & I in a tight embrace, only for Ed to turn into Hate and kill me.

* * Hate * *
“You expect me to believe that Elric made no move to use any alchemy?” Dante asked in that cold impassive voice of hers. Hate only leaned against the wall of the lounge with his hands behind his head.
“I'm only telling you what happened. It was like he didn't even remember how.” Dante stared at him. Her face showed no emotion, but Hate could tell she was furious. He was good at sensing anger, after all, it was a part of him.
She continued in that irritating monotone voice he despised so much. “Well this changes things doesn't it. So tell me, if they were virtually helpless children, how did you manage to let them slip through you fingers.”
Despite his better judgement, Hate slipped into one of those blind rages he was prone to. “I'd like to see you try to hold them while that witch is clawing you to shreds!” Dante clenched her outstretched fist, and Hate suddenly felt the familiar alchemical effects of his collar.
It was unbelievable pain that began at his neck and rapidly spread through his entire body, leaving him writhing in pain on the ground.
“You should know better than to raise your voice at me young man.” She released her hold on him. “Still, if Edward can't use alchemy, I wonder if the same applies to Hohenheim of Light. If that's true, then he should be no problem for you to apprehend. I doubt Lust would interfere with his capture. I don't even know why she's helping Elric. He's no use to her now that she's human, like she's always dreamed. Protecting him only puts her in danger.” She sighed. “Humans are so strange.”
Hate began to regain his composure. “I think she has a thing for the brat.”
“That's not your concern. All you need to worry about right now is Hohenheim.”
“You claim it's so easy, why don't you just send Gluttony?”
Her shudder betrayed the lack of emotion in her voice. “I will only use Gluttony if I have to. Besides, if Lust finds out about him she may try to free him. That will only complicate things further, just do as I say.”
Hate smirked as he turned to leave the room. “As you wish, almighty Dante.”
He could feel her anger surge, as he leapt out the open second-story window. He enjoyed taunting her.
“Soon,” he said to himself. “Very soon I'll be free of this collar, and then I shall enjoy some long awaited revenge. I'll finally be able to kill Elric and Dante at my leisure.” A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to have the one thing that fool Elric never had. That he was too blind to take. Very soon we'll be together Sharee.”