Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Homunculi gone wrong? ❯ Blindly jumping in head first ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter one : Blindly jumping in head first
Six months later
Central

Colonel Roy Mustang entered his office.

"Colonel."

Blue eyes looked at the speaker, or actually the photo of a three-year-old girl in a pink sundress, and a hat way too big for her. "Maes, it's too early for something like that now." He groaned refraining from setting the photo on fire. "Thought you had work to do in another office."

Maes Hughes gave a soft sigh slipping the photo back into his pocket. "Actually I thought you would want to see this." He handed over a file he was holding in his other hand. "Sheska found it earlier. Seems they tried to hide it in the library. Nothing seems to escape her though. She seemed it was weird it was backdated and on the stack of new reports. The librarians aren't that lazy, they would have put it away in the right place."

"I bet." He opened the envelope glancing at the contents. "It's six months old."

"The last people to look at this were Fullmetal and his brother." Hughes said looking over his glasses.

"They still in town?"

"I think Armstrong saw them get on the train heading east." Maes sighed. "Guess I should call home and tell my wife I won't be joining her for dinner tonight?"



Elsewhere



Rem heard the knock on the door and opened it seeing the nine-year-old girl that usually hung out with the town's military standing there. He had hated the idea of the girl being the only way he and Ritsuko could communicate, but the girl had insisted that until they knew that they would be able to get her out of town, that it would be safer for the older woman to stay captive in the Major's home.

/I shouldn't have let her get caught in the first place.../ He thought remembering the last time he had seen Ritsuko free. It had been a few hours before Jordan had announced they had caught the child killer. It had been the same day that Yashiro had died, just seconds afterwards. /I shouldn't have fallen. Then she'd be safe here. She'd like the garden./ He thought to himself wondering briefly how he would handle having her around. /She's my sister of sorts... we have to stick together. I just don't know if she'll take to the fact I killed the other five of us because they weren't peaceful./ He thought.

"Father, she's waiting for you. I managed to get her out of the house, but we couldn't get past the sewers... I know I shouldn't have taken her that way, but it was the safest. She sent me ahead." The girl looked up at him, pulling him from his thoughts. It was clear the girl was about ready to collapse on him. He caught her as she fell.

"Mitsu, you shouldn't have involved yourself in this. You should have just stayed away." He whispered. He heard her stomach growl and realized she had been starving herself again. "When was the last time you ate?"

"A.. a few days ago... I've been sneaking my food to her. They wouldn't give her any. I'm sorry Father... I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't let her starve. I told her that I ate so that she would eat it. They've been keeping her weak the last month."

Rem carried her inside. "Mick, get Miss Mitsu something to eat. I think there's still stew from dinner."

A brown haired boy nodded while another boy moved to get a blanket.

"Father, should we prepare the usual room for Mitsuko?"

"Let her sleep here. Prepare a room upstairs for a guest. And none of you tell any of the military we have a guest. We can hide that she's here for a while."

"The child killer?" One of the boys asked.

"Ri...Sis isn't a killer. They're using her!" Mitsu hissed at the boys. "They... they took something dear to her. She hasn't killed anyone. I've watched her help heal my pets when they hurt them." She growled. "Never speak of Sister like that. She's not the monster that they say she is."

Rem smiled slightly as the boys were taken back by her words.



Edward got off the train grinning. "Alright, Al, come on, this is going to be easy, we won't have to worry about the others getting in our way."

"I'm coming brother." The armored brother caught up with his blond haired brother. "Though I'm not sure if we should be out here alone. I mean this still seems fishy to me. Why would we be asked to just get an item? It's nothing with what we've been working on."

"So we get some time off. I know what we've been asked to do, but with what we found in Marco's cookbook, I'll gladly take a break from thinking about it. Besides, I needed to get away from the stupid Colonel before I went insane."

"He's really not that bad Brother." Al paused seeing the men walking up to the train station.

"Make sure the Child Killer isn't on the train." A chubby man in a military uniform ordered. The men nodded splitting up to check the train.



"Child Killer?" Al looked at his brother.

"Relax, we don't fit the profile." /I hope./ Ed added in thought as he looked at the Major who had given the orders. /This guy seems like a creep./ He started for the phone to check in.

Al followed after him, noticing the Major was watching his brother closely. /What's that guy's deal?/

Edward dialed the phone. "Colonel Mustang," There was a pause. "What do you mean he left?" Another pause. "Fine." The teen hung up the phone with a growl. "The jerk's coming here."

The Major started walking towards the brothers. "You two boys know that there's a murderer on the streets. You should go back home."

Ed's gold eyes looked into the cold eyes of the dark haired man. He sighed. "We're from Central. They figured you'd need some help."

"We don't need help from a little brat. Is that what he thinks back there. That this is all a joke? Why didn't he send Black Widow out here?" Jordan looked at the golden eyed boy with a glare. /How dare this child treat me like an equal.../

Ed snorted, "They sent me," he glanced to the side smugly, "I don't like to brag but I am the FullMetal Alchemist..."

Jordan looked at him as one of his men ran up. He opened his mouth to say something but his subordinate spoke first..

"Sir, she's not on the train, but we think we found where the child she tricked ran to. She may be trying to get the Priest into helping her escape.”

"Fine, go get her. We'll lure her out." Jordan shoved Edward out of the way. "Right now we need to deal with the situation. Just stay back brat." /Great... just what we need a little kid who thinks he's an alchemist. He's nothing compared to the ones I've worked with before... Even Jan could probably out do that twerp.. What the hell does He think sending a kid when we have to deal with that creature.../

Ed growled annoyed and took his watch out, "Hey...this watch says I'm a state Alchemist! You _can’t_ ignore me!"

"Ed, maybe we should stay back.. I mean they know what we're up against we don't."

Ed snarled looking at Al, "Look that bastard colonel didn't send me here for nothing..."



A figure stayed in the shadows near the train watching the confusion. /They found Mits... I.. I can't get to the church without drawing attention.../

Jordan and his men started for the church.

The figure moved for the boys stumbling a little, her bare feet leaving a trail of blood as she moved.

Ed growled before storming over to Jordan, not giving up on the situation. His golden eyes narrowed dangerously as he brought his hands together. "Stop IGNORING ME!" he slammed his hands on the ground and put a wall up, "now answer me what is going on before you piss me off even more!"

Jordan turned looking over at him. His eyes went past the boy landing on the woman as she tripped. "Fullmetal, right? Grab that woman.. She's the escapee."

Ritsuko yelped seeing she was caught. Her eyes looked up to the church. /Rem... Rem please do something.../ She silently begged.

Al caught her as she fell. "Are you okay miss..." He heard Jordan say she was the escapee and looked at his brother. /She can hardly stand... what did they do to her? This wasn’t from trying to escape. She looks like she was beaten./ His eyes looked at the man who was in charge. /He should have stopped them from doing anything to someone they had in custody./

Ed glanced back at her for a moment, /An item eh?/ "What did she do then...what was her crime?" He walked over to her casually unafraid.

The woman, a little shorter than Ed himself, struggled to get free from Al. "No... don't take me back there... please... help me... they.." She saw the guns aimed at them and went silent. A metal collar was around her neck, the links of chain hanging from it looking like they had been eaten by acid. Her wrists bore the same kind of bands.



A priest came out of the church running for them. "Ritsuko." He was stopped by two of the men.

"You know she's been the one killing the children here. Back off Priest, she'll be executed here and now if you don't." Jordan growled at him.

"Hold on a second!" Ed yelled still quite annoyed. "Where's the proof?"

Jordan growled. "We caught her killing one of them. If you'd feel better about it, why don't you go over the reports and let her sit in a cell a while longer."

"She needs medical attention." Al said deciding it wouldn't be a good idea to let the officers have her again. "Ed.."

Rem shoved his way to them and collected the small girl holding her close. She wrapped her arms around him crying. He positioned himself in such a way that the men couldn‘t see his lips.. "They set her up... You came from Central, I hope that you have others with you... They killed one of the other State Alchemists that found out the truth.." He quickly whispered, keeping his tone down. “Please, she didn’t do anything.. They’ve had her for the past six months and still the murders go on.”

Ed looked her over nodding, "I see..." Ed turned around abruptly and walked up to Jordan, "I'm taking over this investigation, you have a problem call Colonel Roy Mustang in Central...and if you still have a problem oh well...we'll deal with her as we see fit and if you don't like that I guess you're shit out of Luck huh?"

Al would have smirked if he had a face.

Rem held her close as she shivered at his words.

/Rem won’t let them hurt me.. Please Brother, don’t let them let him take me back there... I don’t want to be locked in that room again./ She thought clinging to him afraid that if she let him go she’d be taken away.

Jordan glared at the boy. "Fine, we're going to keep an eye on you and check with the Colonel." He pointed to two of his men, who nodded staying put as the others scattered.

Ritsuko waited for them to leave before saying anything. "T...thank you..." She whispered softly. I... I am sorry you may have gotten in over your head because of me... I shouldn't have tried to escape... But I couldn‘t stay there after she did her best to get me out of there..." She leaned more against the dark haired man who was holding her.

Ed smiled thinly, "what exactly are you implying?"

"We can talk in the church.. She needs rest." Rem said as her head lowered more. He looked at the men who had been left to guard them. "I'll explain everything." He said as three children came to the gate.

The red haired girl beamed brightly as she saw he woman with the man. /She made it... I... I thought that they'd take her back... Looks like I'm out of a job now though... They'll kill me for this stunt..../

Ed nodded and followed him in, grinning smugly as if to say ‘Edward Elric is the winner‘. "that's fine..."

Al followed catching the glares of the two men. /Good thing I don’t need sleep.. I think after this stunt they’re going to need someone keeping watch./ He looked worriedly at the woman, who was giving small hisses each time her foot hit the ground.

Ed watched too, wondering what he had thrown himself and his brother into. The Priest seemed to be caring about the woman as if they were related. /That jerk’s going to pay for that. If I find out he was the one that hurt her... Mustang’s going to have to court martial me for what I do to the bastard. What am I thinking... I have to stay until we find a stone so I can change Al back.../ He ran his hand through his hair as he walked, clearly lost in his thoughts.

"Sis, you're okay right? Please be okay..." The red haired girl said biting her lip. "I.. couldn't use anymore alchemy to keep them away... I'm sorry..."

The woman moaned slightly. She touched the girl's head lightly forcing a smile. "I'm just tired... I'll be fine.. I.. I won't let them hurt you okay..." She touched the metal band on her neck grimacing slightly.

Rem led the two strangers into the main hall. He set the woman down. "Go get the bandages." One of the boys ran off to go fetch them.

"I still don't see why you let her in here Father." The other boy said getting a glare from the nine-year-old girl.

"Hey kid, shut up, does she look like some one who would kill?" Ed growled, coming down off of his ego trip.

"She didn't hurt anyone.." Rem said not looking up. "Those men killed several of the children in this village. The three you see here are the last in the village. We didn't have a problem until They came. Apparently to make sure Ritsuko’s father wasn't doing anything wrong. He was an Alchemist. One of the best I‘ve seen." It was clear that talking about the man was hard for the Priest to do. Ritsuko grabbed his hand.

"Father Rem. Don't... please..." She looked at him. "You tried to protect me... Don't beat yourself up about this."

The red head moved to the pew where the wounded woman was sitting. She saw that the bands were irritating her. "I'm sorry... I can't change them to get them off..." she said biting her lip.

"It's okay Mitsu... You did more than enough..."

"I see... so they're from the scumbag pool of the military," he glanced at Al, "something tells me that when they do get a hold of Mustang if they do then they're going to say we're lying as an excuse," Ed glanced at Ritsuko, "ok, first thing we aughta do is get the metal off of you're neck."

Ritsuko looked at him clearly fighting the urge to scramble back. She sat still. "I.. I wouldn't want to bother you."

Ed snorted, "Alchemists be there for the people...that means All people miss..."

She gave the faintest nod grimacing.

Rem looked at her. "You won’t hurt her will you?"

"I would not willingly hurt an innocent person...that bastard out there," he pointed to the door referring to Jordan, "is another story."

She nodded wrapping her arms around herself. Mitsu stayed quiet as she sat watching.

Al watched both of them. He looked at the boy who was still glaring at the older girl. The other boy, only about five, ran in with bandages. "Here Father. I couldn't reach the stuff you use to clean our cuts though."

"That's okay child." He smiled to the small boy. "Why don't you and Mick go outside for a while so we can talk?"

"Can sissy Mits come with us and make the birdies again?"

Ed cocked his head, "Make Birdies?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

Mitsuko smiled. "I can transmute tiny birds out of wood. They only last a few hours, but they keep the boys happy. It allows Father Rem some time to cook for them. I‘m usually at the mansion by the time they eat... But I don‘t think I‘ll be allowed back there tonight." She tucked red hair out of her eyes. "Father Rem let me go through the books that Dr Yashiro had. I can't do everything in them though..." She said changing the subject. “Some of them are hard... And I can’t get everything for them, but I’m happy just doing the toys and calling animals to me. They’re my friends when Ritsu’s sick. Jordan says she’s sick a lot.. But I don’t think that’s true.” She realized she was rambling and went silent.

Ed blinked, and sighed, "toy birds..."

Mitsu nodded. "I can call animals too. If, if you want I can show you later."

Ritsuko leaned against the pew feeling weak. She hissed as Rem carefully wrapped her feet.

"Brother, maybe you should get those bands off her so we can let her sleep. She looks like she's about to pass out on us." Al said calmly, pulling his brother out of the conversation he was having with the seemingly bright child. /She’s younger than we were when everything happened. He better be careful, she might be better than he is one day. And Ed hates losing./ He thought seeing the smile on the child’s face as she had talked about her abilities.

Ed nodded, and clapped his hands changing the bands so that they were able to be open and tossed aside. "I don't think we're going to have too much time though...I'm going to go see if Dumb and Dumber have any idea whether or not Wonder Boy got in touch with Mustang."

"He... He would still be fuming... When... When things didn't go right he'd fume about it then..." Ritsuko's face reddened. "Then, then he'd whip me... Telling me it was my fault, because I‘m not strong."

Mitsuko curled up a little. "He was trying to find Yashiro's private journal.. the one that she had was empty... I found the real one."

"You weren't supposed to go into the house." Rem looked at her worried. “You know that there are things best left hidden in that house.”

"I had to Father... So that he wouldn't hurt her. I didn't hand him the one that you wanted though... That's hidden in my room back at the mansion."

"Brother, you couldn't get a hold of Mustang though? Do you think that he'd be on his way here? He may have figured we'd need help."

"But they don't know that and I'd like to keep it that way," Ed hissed low, "Now stay here and keep them safe while I go see if captain dumbass and this band of merry dimwits figured it out yet." Ed then turned about and walked to the doors.



"Hey has your commander gotten in touch with Colonel Mustang yet?"

"We haven't heard from him yet. Bored with the bitch already?" One of them asked.

The other one chucked at that.

The two boys went back to the door afraid that the officers would shoot.

Ed thought for a minute, "Bored? What exactly are you implying... Unless you two are saying that you were among the bastards that could get kicked out of the army for prisoner abuse," he raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't be abuse if she begged for it." The man said smugly.

Ed narrowed his eyes, but smiled smugly, "Really? So you're saying that trembling little girl begged for it? I though legal age wasn't till eighteen here?"

"She's older than that." He laughed. "The bitch in there's twenty-one. And we didn't touch the red head. Wanted to, but the boss was saving her for something special.."

Ed grinned maliciously, "Really..." he punched the one who said that with his metal fist. "I'll make sure you all are court marshaled."

Ed smirked smugly, "oh, and if I didn't think you were scum I'd apologize for breaking your nose." He then turned around and went back into the church.



Inside Rem finished bandaging Ritsuko up and moved to pick her up. She had faded off slightly. Rem’s movement’s waking her instantly.

"I can carry her, where do you want her?" Al asked. She looked up at him and said nothing.

/He and his brother haven't really hurt me... He did hold me a little hard, but I don’t think he meant it./ She thought as she let him pick her up without trying to move away from him.

"There's a room in the back fixed up for her." He said calmly. He was glad he had been able to wrap her wrists before the boys had seen the markings. /They might not take it well if they knew we weren't human... Ritsuko, please don't let them know../



Mitsuko looked up from where she was trying to fix one of the toys for the boys as Ed walked back in. "They're still out there aren't they?" She asked. "I can help to make sure they don't get to sis... Please, I know I'm not really old... but I'm decent with my skills... And they don't have anyone other than Jan... and she doesn't use it that often..."

"Don't worry about it, I can handle what ever they throw at me," Ed smiled warmly at the girl, "I'll make sure they don't hurt your sister."

Mistu nodded fixing the toy. She climbed down from her seat walking over to him. "Could... could you teach me how to do the thing you did with the bands? I.. I called acidic bugs to eat away at the metal... it took two hours before she could leave..." Mitsu looked at the floor. "I want to make sure I can help her if it does happen again..." The girl’s bright eyes looked up at the blonde’s gold ones, not seeming to be afraid of what she was asking.

Ed looked at her, and knelt down next to her, "I don't generally teach students...but...what do you know?"

"I can do little things... Like the flowers in the garden... A week ago the garden was destroyed in one of Jordan's tantrums... He was trying to get me to go back home because I came here to tell Father Rem what was going on..." She looked at the floor. "And I made this a while back..." She held up the wooden songbird touching it lightly to make it chirp. "And Father doesn't like it when I leave circles on the floor to summon animals." She giggled slightly. "Last time it was mice."

"I can't help you with summoning stuff...and I can't teach you how to do Alchemy with out a transmutation circle, but keep practicing your arrays...see if the Father has any paper to practice on."

She nodded. "But I want to know how to work metal..." She said biting her lip. Her hair fell into her face. "Thank you for taking them off her though... I didn't want to risk the acid hurting her..." She looked up. "I think I know where the paper is." She jumped to her feet to get it.

Ed chuckled a little bit at her enthusiasm. "What she needs is a basic Alchemy book."



Al set the girl on the bed trying to be as gentle as possible. The Priest carefully covered her, leaving fresh clothes by the bed for her.

“Father, you don’t need to do this for me.” She attempted to sit up. He eased her back down.

“You just rest. You need your strength if you’re going to help me with the children here. If these two can help us, we can rebuild our village back to the way it was before.” He poured something from a pitcher nearby, holding it to her lips after raising her head enough so she wouldn’t choke on it. “Drink up, it’ll help you sleep. Right now that, a warm bath an some good food are what you need.”

“You’re keeping me in bed until I’m rested first aren’t you?” She asked. “I’ll stay. Don’t worry, I won’t escape you Father.” She felt the soft bed fold around her as he tucked her in again. A few moments later her eyes closed.

“I’m sorry I had to drug you Ritsu, but it’s for your own good. You need to heal up.”



Al quietly closed the door. He had started to turn out the light, but Rem had stayed his hand.

“They kept her in a dark room, maybe she will rest easily with the light on.”

Al nodded pausing a moment. "What was that you gave her?"

"I gave her something that should help her sleep through the night. Where's Mitsu?" Rem asked looking at the blonde boy as they entered the main hall again.

Mick and the other boy saw that the bird toy was fixed and snatched it up going off to play with it.

Ed smirked, "She went to get paper to practice her Alchemy transmutation circles."

"Not more mice..." Rem said with a groan. "I guess I do sort of spoil her, but considering she was the only survivor when they burned the orphanage down.. I can't help but spoil her. She has a natural talent for it. Doesn‘t help she‘s one of three women in the village. Ritsuko‘s the other one that I care about. Even though they‘re not blood, they‘re my baby sisters."

"Ed, did you hear from them?" Al asked. "Or still no word from Mustang?"

Mitsu returned with a few pieces of paper. She had a pen in her mouth and ink in the other hand. She hummed around the pen as she walked. The tune sounding like an old lullaby that their mother would sing when Al was a baby.

Ed shook the thought out of his head. "No word from Mustang..." Ed said, "But... let's just say one of those idiots out side won't be able to breath out of their nose for a while." He winked at Mitsu, "So why don't you show me your transmutation circle, unless you have more than one you use."

Mitsu nodded finding a place on the floor so that she could work. She looked deadly serious as she worked on her drawings, making an intricate one that seemed to be a mix of about three. The girl’s actions and hand movements seemed more like an adult’s than a small child.

/She grew up way too fast. You can tell./ Ed thought as he watched her in the corner of his eye. /Though I don’t think she knows half of what she’s read... She could be more dangerous if she doesn’t learn he basics../ He looked at the three combined rings. /Wait... these are more complex than most beginners use.../

Rem looked at her. "No animals please."

Al watched. "She can really bring animals here?"

He nodded. "The circles she draws can make them come to her."

"It probably has something to do with changing the chemicals in the air to attract them," Ed said nodding keeping an eye on the door. /Considering what elements she’s using in them, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case./

She finished the circle. "I can activate it if you wa..." She was cut off by the door opening. The two boys ran in.

"Father, all eight of them are heading this way. Even the Witch."

"I'll deal with it..."

"No I'll deal with it," Ed smirked, "After all I broke the guy's nose..."

The child looked up at him. “But...”

“Brother knows what he’s doing. Why don’t you go sit with her? If they manage to get past us, you can stop them okay?” Al said calmly.

The girl looked at him. “I’ll really be helpful that way?”

Al nodded. He scooped up her papers for her, handing them to her. “While you wait you can draw her a picture. I bet you like drawing right?” She nodded.

“I’ll draw one for you if you want Mr. Armor.” Al realized that his brother had never introduced him to the others.

Ed gave a small smirk as the girl left and sighed. “So, what do you think Al?”

“I think it’s probably a good thing that Colonel Mustang’s on his way.” Al replied. “I’m ready to help though.”