Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Guilt ridden II: That F'ing stone! ❯ The battered broken beast he created ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Full Metal Alchemist, just a fan here folks.

 

Warning: LEMON scene's, Language, violence & other stuff.

 

Summary: It isn't a sequel to my other Guilt ridden, more a different set of events with a similar, but not quiet, idea. EdxWinry, RoyxRiza, AlxRose (Implied).

 

Chapter 8: The battered broken beast he created.

 

The street seemed to have been abandoned for five years or so.

Cracked tarmac mixed with broken windows, boarded up doorways and dishevelled rundown buildings to create a vista of an abandoned ghost town after a siege. It was a rather upsetting vision, and for Ed it served as a potent reminder of all the lives he and Al had wrecked and misplaced in their quest for the stone.

There was just one thing about this view that struck Ed as being out of place, and perhaps it was just his mind playing some paranoid trick on him but he felt as if he was being watched from every broken window and from between the gaps in the boarded up doorways.

This is stupid; he would be hiding here would he? Honestly Ed had no idea; he wouldn't put it past Tucker to be using `the devils nest' as his hide out since no one was willing to go near the place after what had happened there before. But still, it seemed all bit too simple as if Tucker was wanting him to find him and then……. Ed didn't know what came after that, he had never really been in this situation before and hoped he never would be again.

“You ready?” with a heavy sigh Ed's gaze travelled to the heavily cloud leaden sky before looking towards Mustang. “Looks like snows about to come” he said his voice dry and defeated. Mustang looked at the sky “yeah, but the question still stands, are you ready?” he said staring back at Ed. “I guess so” Ed mumbled as he reached into the band of his pants and felt the cool metallic pistols grip.

The boarding's over `the devils nests' door were heavily rotted and loose and came away easily. “Looks like we're not the first to enter here” Armstrong stated in his deep baritone drawl. “Clearly not, best to be ready once we step inside” Mustang replied.

As he stepped through the doorway Ed looked about himself at the state of the main room, and wasn't surprised at what he saw. Every table had been turned on its side, every chair scattered across the room, the bar had been smashed along with the glass cabinet behind it and the shards of glass had been thrown across the bare concrete floor like some bizarre puzzle.

It seemed as if no one had stepped foot inside the building since the militaries raid all those years ago, but Ed wasn't about to jump to that conclusion straight away. Stepping past the group into the centre of the room Ed looked around the floor for several moments before his gaze fell on a small pile of round black pebbles.

Kneeling beside them Ed plucked the top one off the tiny pile and brought it to his nose. As he took a small sharp sniff Ed's head jerked backwards in response to the `pebbles' smell. “Shit” he stated throwing it away “so we aren't the only ones to have come here, its rather cold though so…..” his voice trailed off as he looked back at the group and saw them all looking in the same direction “what?” he asked noting the looks of both disgust, shock and terror on their faces.

His eyes followed their stares and he saw what held their attention, three chimeras. The first looked almost perfectly like an old grey furred wolf except for the heavy hints of human features in its face. The two behind it were even more deformed; one had a reptilian tail and a fox's body whilst the third was just a total patch work of at least half a dozen different large predatorial animals.

“Visitors, master will be well pleased with these new materials” the grey furred chimera said its voice a croaking gravely growl that caused Ed's stomach to clench in disgust. “GET THEM!” it growled launching itself straight at Ed. On reflex Ed brought up his left arm, having completely forgotten it no longer consisted of automail.

White hot pain short up from his forearm as the chimera's razor sharp teeth sunk into Ed's arm. However Ed right fist was already in motion, it connected with the wolf chimera's stomach driving the wind from the beast and sending it backwards, its teeth instantly detaching from Ed's forearm. As the chimera leapt backwards with a surprised yelp Ed grabbed his wounded forearm as the pain kicked in.

The chimera begun to circle him from the left as one of the others circled from the right. “So long since our prey has put up a fight, master will truly be happy with such tough subjects to work on” its words were a hideous hiss now and it sent shivers of revulsion down Ed's spine. To think that these are the work of an alchemist, and not any alchemist but the one who trained me for the states exam! Ed knew that such thoughts were pointless, but even though he was well aware that Tucker had long since strayed from the ideals that all genuine alchemists walked it did nothing to lessen the urge to vomit in disgust that swept throughout him.

Thankfully he was saved from actually expelling his stomachs contents by the sound of a rifle discharging and a pain filled hiss of a scream His head snapped around as he saw Riza bring the rifle around and point it at the chimera circling Ed to the right. Again Riza fired dropping the second chimera.

Turning his attention back to the grey furred chimera Ed watched it prepare itself to attack once more. He knew that it was either himself or the chimera that was going to die, and having made a promise to Winry that he would get back safely he wasn't about to see that promise broken.

Before he could fully process this thought the chimera sprung at him once more. Moving on reflex he drew the pistol Riza had given him and pulled the trigger. Everything seemed to hang suspended in time as the chimera leapt towards him and the bullet sped through the air towards the chimera.

Then the bullet struck the chimera in the midriff and Ed was exposed to the full horror of a bullet shot. The front of the chimera's chest seemed to cave inwards as the back of it exploded outwards in a grotesque spray of blood and organs. Then the chimera fell to the ground its momentum halted by the cold steel slug projectile.

Silence descended onto the room as the chimera hit the floor and Ed stared at its slumped silent form in sheer disbelief. The frozen, silent moment stretched out for what seemed like an eternity and just when Ed begun to believe that the chimera was dead it let out a hideously disfigured howl of pain that seemed to freeze him in place and yet also make him leap about ten feet into the air.

Ed's eyes widened, his lower jaw begun to tremble and all the strength disappeared from his limbs as the realisation hit home as to what he had just done kicked in. He had almost ended a life with his own two hands, and no matter which way he looked at the wolfen chimera he couldn't see it as anything but human because of the intelligence he had glimpsed in its predatory gaze.

He looked back at the others, hoping against hope that one of them would have the will power to end the poor chimera's suffering. And yet what he saw in their eyes told him indefinitely that this was now his burden to bare, he had inflicted this suffering upon the chimera by pulling the trigger and so it was his duty to relieve the poor beast of its suffering.

With trembling small steps Ed moved towards the heavily bleeding chimera until he was standing over it, its life blood pooling heavily around his boots. Its head turned up towards his its blue eyes full of screaming agony. Ed couldn't meet its accusing gaze, unwilling or simple not wanting to see the hideous truth of what he was about to become in those light blue depths.

Slowly lowering himself onto one knee Ed placed his shaking hand over the chimera's eyes and placed the pistol barrel against the side of its skull. “Please forgive me” he whispered closing his eyes and pulling the trigger. Even behind his closed eyelids he saw the muzzle flash and heard the shot that signalled the end of the poor chimera.

Pulling his hand away from its now empty eyes Ed unsteadily rose to his feet and turned back to the others. He said nothing, for what could he say? He had just killed another person, at least in his own eyes, and he clearly wasn't prepared to do that again, not for anything.

In silence he hand the pistol back to Riza and led the others deeper into the `Devils nest' going through the same path he once had gone down to save Al from Greed. As they headed deeper below ground all of them could feel eyes watching them from the shadows, tens perhaps hundreds of beady yellow eyes watching them with all the cunning weariness and fear of thoroughly beaten and abused animals.

Slowing his pace Ed pressed himself against the cold stone wall as the main underground chamber appeared before him. He knew Tucker would be there, but how he and the others where going to get out of this hellish trap without using alchemy or taking lives completely alluded him at that point. Holding up a hand the others stopped behind him as he moved to the edge of the open door frame before stepping out and standing dead centre in the open doorway.

What he saw, at first, didn't surprise him. “Tucker!” he said drawing the massive bear like beasts attention as it loomed over him from the centre of the room. It turned to face him and he was once more face-to-face with Shou Tucker. But behind him, chained to the far wall Ed was horrified to see Winry slumped unconscious. Tucker grinned his eyes sparkling with insane mirth and glee as he stared at Ed “Hello Ed” he said, his voice a sibilant whispered hiss.

 

A/U: You have no idea how hard this chapter was! I kept coming back to it and changing things around until it's the way it is now, but hopefully its worth it because it'll lead into the next and perhaps final `chapter'(if you don't include the epilogue that I'll be adding) of this story, which is where all the real action is! Anyway, thanks for sticking with it despite the HUGE gap in updates and I'll try to get the next part to ya all real soon. `Til then, later folks……..