Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Replacement ❯ A Mother's Grief ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA but if I did…I think there would be a lot more time spent on Roy and Scar…oh…and Ed would be 18 *winks*

 

 

~*~

 

12 - A Mother's Grief

 

~*~

 

 

Roy assesses the situation, the two women are at a standstill and Roy can barely make out the ash on Woodgrove's black bodysuit. She was hit by a blast of flame, of that he has no doubt, however, the material had to be tough because she wasn't showing any signs of pain. Of course, Roy knew soldiers that were shot and kept fighting unaware that there were a holes the size of their fists leaking blood out their backs.

 

Woodgrove looked different, tired, and somewhere deep inside, Roy understood her exhaustion. Perhaps when he dreams were realized he would have that same look of relief and alertness that graced Woodgrove's face.

 

“You should have kept out of it, Angelina,” Angela Winter-Woodgrove stated and Woodgrove smirked at her mother.

 

“Why would I do that? Especially when you took something that belongs to me,” the voice was cold and her Mother smirked. Roy was disturbed.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Ed felt the alchemy and was confused by the lack of light. There was a scurrying in the darkness and then a voice, misshapen and inhuman that spoke. It was not like the Nina-Alexander, but like a parrot's voice given to something without a beak.

 

“I come help you, Elric,” it spoke and Ed jerked his head, glowing eyes looked at him as something small and furry scurried over his chest and under his arm. There was the scratching of something on his shackle.

 

“Touch,” the voice spoke and Ed blinked. He touched the shackle. Small…hands…moved his fingers and Ed focused on it. It was a transmutation circle. Ed pressed his fingers and concentrated. There was the sharp flash of light and Ed pulled his arm free. The creature was by his foot, the scraping sound repeated. “Touch.” Ed quickly touched the shackle and again he was freed. Something was shoved into his hand, the familiar feeling of chalk was a welcomed relief to Ed as he drew on his gag and the horrid thing was turned into a torch. Something else was placed in his hand and Ed smirked as he placed the torch in the crook of his leg, lighting it with his hand.

 

Ed saw his `savior' and screamed.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Envy leapt out of the way as the second chimera struck the ground where he was standing. It hissed before mandibles extended to the sides of its mouth, it had several sharp, canine teeth and now a pair of razor sharp pinchers.

 

“Moffer, will finally free us wiff your deaffs,” the chimera cried with a very noticeable lisp since its lips were pulled so taunt by the mandibles.

 

“I'd love to see you try,” Envy laughed and stopped the second the webbing shot from out of the chimera's mouth and around his ankles, causing him to fall backwards off the tree branch he was on. “What is this?!”

 

“You ffought you were so smart,” the chimera hissed, spitting more webbing out around the sin.

 

“Stop that you stupid animal!” the homunculus cried as he struggled, trying to change form only to find the webbing stuck to him in smaller forms and became far too tight in larger forms.

 

“Go to the soldiers,” the other chimera stated, charging Lust and avoiding Gluttony. “He won't get free without these ones.” The one fighting Envy nodded before smiling at him.

 

“You hang around, Moffer will want to speak wiff you,” it chuckled before rushing off at the inhuman speeds it possessed. Envy glared at the creature before struggling some more.

 

“Get me down!” he cried and watched as Lust's claws reached for him only to collide with the first chimera as it blocked her from Envy. “Oh, this is just wonderful.”

 

 

~*~

 

 

The fires burned as the two women faced each other, Hawkeye moved to take a clear shot.

 

“I would not advise that, Riza,” Woodgrove stated, her eyes never leaving her dame. “This is my fight and if you dare step in, I will make you regret it.”

 

“That's my lovely daughter,” Dame Woodgrove chuckled and the younger Woodgrove snarled.

 

“I was never really yours and you know it!” the Younger Woodgrove screamed, stomping her right foot and causing a blast of alchemy to hit the ground, resulting in the Dame Woodgrove to be flung into the air.

 

“Insolent child, I will make you regret going against me when I was being to reform the family!” the Dame's voice shrieked and there was a blast of alchemy and the wind threw the younger Woodgrove towards a fire!

 

“They're dead!” the Younger cried before throwing herself into the air and causing another movement of the earth, moving the flaming tree out of her way.

 

“Roy, I have no idea how to make this a non-fatal situation,” Maes stated and Roy nodded.

 

“I have no doubt by the end of today there will be one less member of the Woodgrove family, at least,” Roy stated and Tom looked at him, pulling out his own gun.

 

“Thomas, don't play with guns, you know I hate roughhousing from my boys! Take care of him!” the Dame cried and all were shocked when a creature of feline, aviator, and human rushed the man, knocking him to the ground before grasping his gun in its malformed hand and one nearly perfect feline paw the size of a lion's.

 

“What the hell?” Tom cried and the creature crushed the gun as if it was tin foil.

 

“Sorry, Tom,” the creature whispered and the group stared at its face, the ragged scars around the sockets told them all, its eyes had been removed in a very painful manner.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Havoc stared at the creature as Ed shrieked. At first he thought it was human as well, but then the long simian tail waved around and Havoc tried to get Ed's attention. Quickly, the Fullmetal Alchemist was back, placing the torch so that the room was somewhat lit and the simian creature approached him, reaching for the chalk to run over to Havoc and begin drawing circles.

 

“Free the captives,” it chirped and Ed slowly realized what this tiny chimera was. The wings folded on its back matched the exotic blue fur the creature now possessed. “Touch. I come help you Elric.” It was a decent imitation, a real talking chimera, but Ed doubted that this one could understand as well as form original sentences.

 

“Yea, yea,” Ed muttered as he began to drag himself across the floor. It was hard and Ed's body was not used to such movement since his captivity. He was shocked at how tired he was as he crawled toward Havoc. The creature stared at him, the fur-feathers ruffling at the neck to make it look like its little head was about to explode. The creature scurried over and began pulling Ed, not that it could do much. It was just nice to have the encouragement.

 

“Touch. I come help you Elric. Free the captives,” the creature cried and Ed panted as he reached Havoc's bedside. He looked back at his bed, it was only a few meters, but without an arm and a legs and two weeks worth of inactivity, Ed was surprised to have made it that far without stopping.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Lust was very sick of the chimera, it had played one long game of Keep Away and it didn't seem to be planning on giving up any time soon. Things had gone from bad to worse, when it realized that Gluttony had a difficult time getting up if knocked onto his back.

 

“Would you hurry up!” Envy cried and Lust glared at him before being thrown into a tree as the chimera chuckled.

 

“This is fun, Mother never lets us have this much fun,” it giggled as it threw itself at Gluttony again, knocking the smaller homunculus to his back, for the fifteenth time. “I will miss this, but human form is much more appealing.”

 

“Funny, we're thinking the same thing,” Lust hissed as she caged the chimera between her ten claw blades. However, the chimera was stronger than Lust's blades over such a distance and quickly charged her again, throwing her into Gluttony before laughing and situating itself under Envy's hanging form.

 

 

~*~

 

 

The eyeless creature quickly moved back, behind Dame Woodgrove, its body was horribly malformed, the lumps and angles spoke of things being where they didn't belong.

 

“Go back to ffe house, I'll take over!” a voice screamed before another chimera leapt over the eyeless one and stood over Tom, snapping its mandibles.

 

“Do not touch him!” Dame Woodgrove stated, circling her daughter. “He is one of the Family!” The chimera looked at him before looking up at Armstrong.

 

“Ooo, a big one!” it giggled before jumping at the Major only to find itself caught in the large hands of the man. “Let go!” A semi human clawed hand raked the Major's arm, causing the chimera to fall to the ground before growling.

 

“Sir?” Hawkeye asked and Roy nodded.

 

“Put it out of its misery,” Roy stated and Hawkeye took a shot only to have the chimera charge her, knocking her down the road before racing at Maes.

 

“He's fast,” Maes stated as he jumped out of the way, allowing Armstrong to try grabbing the chimera in a different way.

 

 

~*~

 

 

The two Woodgroves circled each other, ignoring the screams and cries and commotion all around them as they moved like the predators they were.

 

“Oh, Angelina, you had so much promise,” Dame Woodgrove sighed before throwing a piece of cardboard that was shining with alchemic light. The explosion rocked the ground and Dame Woodgrove snarled when she saw the wall of rock that bore the mark of the explosive.

 

“You forgot who took the lesson of throwing circles to heart, Mother-dearest!” Woodgrove cried and what looked like a simple playing card flew over the wall, however, the glowing transmutation circle on the card caused a rather large explosion of its own. Dame Woodgrove was standing on a pillar of rock above the explosion as Woodgrove's wall crumbled and the Detective threw several cards at the pillar causing a massive explosion that caused the pillar to collapse as Woodgrove ran for safety as Dame Woodgrove hit a tree with one of her cards, causing it to grow and catch her from the deadly fall.

 

“I had not forgotten, but I wonder how many cards you have at your disposal, Dearest Angelina,” Dame Woodgrove cried as she hit the circle and the tree transformed, allowing her to step off the branch onto the ground.

 

“Please, Mother-dearest, I was always well prepared for battle,” the Detective stomped the ground with one boot clad foot, causing a wave of earth to roll at Dame Woodgrove.

 

“I have underestimated you,” Dame Woodgrove hissed and the Detective smirked as a tree seemed to sprout from nothing in front of said Dame, protecting her from the wave of earth.

 

“I didn't underestimate you!” Woodgrove screamed as she hit a circle on her arm, causing the flames from the nearest fire to rise and rush at the tree, turning it to ash to reveal that Dame Woodgrove was no longer hidden behind it. “Shit!”

 

“Such foul language, I certainly didn't teach you that!” Dame Woodgrove cried as she leapt at her daughter.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“Thank God!” Havoc hissed as his gag was removed and he threw it across the room. Ed nodded as he looked around the room, trying to find out the creature had gotten in, then he saw the small tunnel opening over the tub, there was no way either he or Havoc could fit. Plus, the dirt falling into the room from the tunnel gave Ed a good hint that the tunnel had collapsed. “So what do we do now?” Ed looked at Havoc and the piece of chalk in his hand.

 

“I'll open the door,” Ed sighed and then looked at the floor. His pride was caught in his throat. How could he ask Havoc to carry him? Ed didn't ask people for help.

 

“Well?” Havoc asked and Ed glared.

 

“You want to go naked?” Ed snapped before he began drawing on the sheet, it was taunt under them, making it easy to draw the circle on it.

 

“I've gotten a bit used to it,” Havoc laughed, the tension in his voice was enough. Ed touched the circle and it changed the sheet into a pair of pants, they'd been thin, easy to rip, but thick enough to hide most of Havoc's unmentionables.

 

“There,” Ed sighed and Havoc pulled on the pants before pulling Ed's sheet of his bed and making it taunt next to Ed.

 

“You might want some pants, I'm not sure that shirt is going to hide much downstairs,” Havoc stated and Ed nodded, soon he was struggling to get into his own pants, one leg a cut off deal for his stump. “Here.” Havoc helped and there was that awkward silence that often accompanied a moment of `hey, I forgot you're not like me and now I don't know what the fuck to say'. “How should I carry you to the door?” Ed bit back a sigh of relief, Havoc might not be the first person he'd chose to have this kind of ill eased moment with, but the man had handled it well.

 

“My arm over your shoulders, I can help support myself with my foot, but when it comes time to draw, I'll lean on the door to draw the circle, then I'll need to lean on you when I activate it,” Ed stated as Havoc leaned down. The creature suddenly crawled up Ed's leg, along their arms and onto Havoc's shoulder.

 

“Get away from the house. Free them. Touch. Touch. Get away from the house,” The creature chattered as it opened and closed its wings. That's when Ed felt the blast of alchemic energy.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Roy struggled with the webbing that had trapped his arms to his sides, covering his hands. Currently Armstrong and the chimera were battling it out. Armstrong was holding the creature's head away from himself, preventing his own entanglement in the webbing. Still, Tom was stuck to a tree, while Maes was trying to cut himself out of his own cocoon and Hawkeye was cleaning her gun as fast as she could. Al was taking the brunt of the chimera's claws, holding the front paws in his hands while loosing his helmet under a layer of webbing.

 

Slowly, Roy watched as the other chimera, who had been on the porch slowly approached. It kept one ear on the battle between the two Woodgroves. Roy tried to back away only to trip and find himself on the ground as the creature moved over him.

 

“Will you save Angel?” the creature asked and Roy froze. VanBuren's voice spoke to him `Thomas, Joshua, and Daniel always called Angelina Angel, I wasn't in on the joke.' Roy stared at the sightless creature that hovered over him, like a nervous animal ready to flee.

 

“Are you Daniel?” he asked and the chimera shook its head.

 

“Wrong brother,” it whispered and Roy's eyes widened.

 

“Baby…” Roy whispered. There was a strange facial movement around the mouth and Roy slowly realized it was a sad smile, horribly transformed by the presence of the beak and fangs.

 

“Aw, you can just call me Marcus,” the chimera joked and Roy found respect for the poor, blind, crippled creature.

 

“I will do all I can to make sure Angelin…Angel survives this fight,” Roy stated and the chimera stared at him with its eyeless sockets.

 

“I'll hold you to that,” it hissed before a large, feline paw landed on his chest and found the juncture of his arm and torso, slowly and gently ripping away the webbing with talon-like claws. “Leave Tom, he needs to stay safe and out of it.”

 

“I will,” Roy stated as he found his arms free and the chimera leaning over Maes, probably giving the same speech from the look on Maes face. The two friends exchanged a look before Roy looked at the battlefield in shock.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Woodgrove and Dame Woodgrove were on the ground, Dame Woodgrove was over her daughter, hands wrapped around the younger woman's throat. The younger woman was gasping for breath while the older woman laughed.

 

“Once you are dead I'll bring you back, this time you'll be perfect. You won't be like Alexander made you. You'll be my work of art,” Dame Woodgrove whispered into her daughter's ears. “Just like Joshua.” With that there was a blast of alchemy and both women were air born. A card flew at Dame Woodgrove and the woman screamed in agony as fire erupted on her belly.

 

Detective Woodgrove landed on her hands and knees, one hand coming up to massage her throat as she coughed, Dame Woodgrove was rolling on the ground smothering the flames. The younger got to her feet and began to approached her mother before Dame Woodgrove pounded the ground, causing a hole to form under the younger woman, dropping her into the dark hole. There was no scream, no sound of a body exploding into blood and gore at the contact of the ground far below where she started her fall.

 

Dame Woodgrove approached the hole before hissing.

 

“Damn clever bitch!” the woman cried before turning around the clearing, several cards in her hands. “Come out, Angelina!”

 

“They always called me Angel!” Detective Woodgrove's voice cried out before light exploded from the ground and Dame Woodgrove threw her cards into the light. “Wrong way!” Several cards hit the ground by Dame Woodgrove's feet, causing the elder to fall into her own trap.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Ed and Havoc stopped on their way up the stairs, both were too drained from extended periods in bed with limited movement, plus while Ed was minus several pounds from the missing limbs, he was still pretty heavy and Havoc wasn't Armstrong.

 

“Up the stairs, through the hall, out the door, in the woods. Touch. Touch,” the creature chirped. “I come help you, Elric.”

 

“Yea, you have,” Ed sighed, moving his hand to stroke a wing and the creature giggled in a way that would haunt Ed and Havoc the rest of their lives. “Man, how far down was that damn cell.”

 

“I told you it smelt different,” Havoc stated. “It was probably a subbasement.”

 

“Great, more stairs after this,” Ed sighed.

 

“I'm hauling more weight than you,” Havoc stated and Ed glared.

 

“Oh so first I'm a shrimp, now I'm a fat shrimp!” Ed snarled, not dumb enough to try and hurt Havoc since that would probably end with an unpleasant fall down the stairs.

 

“Yea, a loud, fat shrimp, that pretty much describes you,” Havoc chuckled and the creature giggled again.

 

“Loud, fat shrimp,” it chuckled and Havoc laughed, Ed scowled at the creature.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“I mean it! Get me down!” Envy cried, his normally pale face was now quite red, while most people wouldn't think a homunculus could blush, hanging them upside down would cause all the blood in their bodies to start to pool in their heads just like any other creature with blood. Most of Envy's blood was in his head and while it was no longer painful, it was making him want to giggle and he did most definitely want to start giggling, because it was not funny.

 

“Stop your whining, we are trying,” Lust stated, again foiled by the agile and very durable chimera that was laughing, making Envy want to laugh more.

 

“Try harder!” Envy cried, he was going to get a nosebleed soon. Suddenly the chimera began to scream and Envy did begin laughing as Gluttony began to eat the still living creature.

 

“Finally,” Lust hissed approaching Envy and slicing him free from his webbing prison. Of course, doing that caused the sin to land on his blood filled head and start his nosebleed.

 

“Took long enoumph!” he grumbled as he held his nose shut for a moment. The color quickly draining as he took and upright position and found the loss of blood suddenly disturbing. Lust watched as Envy wobbled a bit in his sitting position and she wondered how long it would take for the advanced healing to cure the stubborn sin.

 

“That was delicious,” Gluttony giggled, wiping his mouth and Envy glared at him.

 

“Well I have one more for your meal list,” he snarled, pulling his hand away. He began licking the blood off his own hand as he looked at Lust. She smirked, he looked like a child who had not won his fight against the local bully. Envy glared at her, that expression made it clear she thought less of him even though he was her senior by centuries.

 

“So vengeful Envy, you really should have been named Wrath, it is so much more your sin,” Lust chuckled and Envy glared at her, he knew the true reason for his name was not because of his lust for revenge on Hohemheim, but because of Edward Elric. He turned his train of thought back to business.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“Is it done?” Tom cried, still tied to his tree and the Detective shook her head.

 

“She's still alive,” Woodgrove stated. The chimera looked at the hole and screamed.

 

“You killed her! You killed her!” it shrieked and a kick knocked Al away, blinded by webbing. “You killed her!” With a near miss at removing Armstrong's manhood, the chimera was free and running at Woodgrove. “I'll kill you!”

 

“I doubt it, you poor creature,” the woman stated before throwing a card at the chimera's feet, throwing the monstrosity into the air to fall back deep in the forest.

 

“Angel?” a voice whispered and there was a surreal moment as Woodgrove looked up. Roy and the others could see her face completely, the chimera that had helped them behind her to the side.

 

Large gold eyes stared through them, beyond them, to something that no other living creature could possible see. The tears came without blinking, rolling down her cheeks in rivulets as her lips formed a surprised `o'.

 

“B-b-baby?” she whispered, her body shaking and the chimera placed the more human hand on her shoulder.

 

“Angel,” it whispered and the woman turned and for a moment all those present could swear they saw a younger woman embracing a young man who bore a striking resemblance to a young, missing alchemist.

 

“Marcus, what did she do to you?!” she sobbed and the chimera held her. Maes freed Tom and he approached the two.

 

“Marcus?” Tom asked and the chimera looked up, its empty sockets more proof than anything else. “Marcus!” The three held each other and their cries hurt the hearts of those with siblings.

 

“You two get to safety,” Woodgrove ordered. “Take them with you!” This time the woman before them was clearly back in battle mode.

 

“We won't leave you,” Tom stated and for a moment a look of annoyance that could only be expressed to a family member crossed Woodgrove's face before she shook her head.

 

“You are out of your league, you take Marcus to safety as well as the officers from Central,” she ordered.

 

“No,” the Marcus-chimera hissed and the two others turned to him. “I will help you, Tom must leave.”

 

“You will go with Tom, I will find a way to save yo…” Woodgrove started but the Marcus-chimera shook his head vigorously.

 

“I cannot change back, Angel, she killed the other two,” the Marcus-chimera sighed and Woodgrove looked at him.

 

“I might be able to find another way,” she whispered, but Roy knew the sound of her voice was not hope but denial.

 

“Not without breaking the rules and those rules are too much for me to ever ask you to break,” the Marcus-chimera sighed, one monstrous hand stroking her cheek. “Let me help.”

 

“I don't want you to be hurt anymore…I mean…look what she's done to you so far,” Woodgrove whispered and Tom slowly moved back.

 

“We better leave,” he stated and Roy shook his head.

 

“We will stay,” Roy stated and it was clear Tom was thinking about pulling rank. “We're still missing our…friend.” Tom nodded.

 

“As touching as all this is I do believe someone must be punished!” the voice of Dame Woodgrove hissed like a hateful ghost and a slip of paper was flying at Detective Woodgrove. The Marcus-chimera was faster than Hawkeye's bullet, Roy's flames, or even Detective Woodgrove's attempt to block.

 

The chimera exploded, leaving behind a gore splattered Detective. This time, as blood ran down her face, the gold eyes positively glowed and the scream that escaped her lips was more like a war cry of some ancient and vicious beast.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Envy smirked as they saw the chimera as it shook its head and emerged from the foliage, it froze and growled at them before realizing something.

 

“You ate him!” it cried in abject horror, coming from a creature that had mandibles had to be a record for the homunculi. “Bastards!” With that the chimera began to demonstrate that while it was probably not as durable as its deceased comrade it was, however, far faster, making it that much harder to kill.

 

“Damn it! I'm ripping out your fangs and beating you to death with them!” Envy hissed, playing a game of leap frog with the chimera as Lust tried to stab it.

 

“You have to catch me first!” it snarled as it shot webbing at Envy, sticking him to a tree, however, Envy's arms were still free.

 

“When I'm done, I think I'll have a nice fur coat!” Envy chuckled as he ripped the webbing off of him.

 

“Unlikely,” the chimera spat as it blasted Gluttony with webbing, making a lovely white ball of webbing.

 

“I really dislike this situation,” Lust stated as she took another stab and missed, slicing through Envy's hair.

 

“Watch it!” he shrieked and Lust fought the urge to smirk, he was so sensitive sometimes.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Ed and Havoc stared at the room, they seemed transfixed by the horrors that resided on the mantle of the basement…study. The heads of five young men were perfectly preserved over the fireplace, empty eye sockets were the only thing ruining the image of the young men simply sticking their heads through holes in the wall. On the mantle was a jar, floating in the preserving fluids were a pair of eyes, the exact same gold as Ed's.

 

“We can leave now,” he whispered and Havoc nodded as they passed a photo. In it a family was standing around a porch. A gangly boy was hugging a girl with the same gold eyes as in the jar, in the girl's lap was a little boy, probably only three, his right arm was nonexistent and there was a stump where his left leg should have been. His hair was a similar shade of blond to Ed's and his eyes…were in the jar. “That's him.” Havoc looked at the picture and blinked.

 

“That's Detective Woodgrove, the woman trying to find you, that's her sister. This is her family!” Havoc cried staring. Two more girls were hugging on a lower step while two boys were obviously planning something bad next to them. Behind them stood a man that looked rather similar to Havoc and standing next to the woman who had been holding them captive. “It was her mother…it was her mother.”

 

“We need to get out of here,” Ed stated and they started up the next set of stairs.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“You killed Marcus, you resurrected Joshua and made me kill him, you turned Catherine against me, you turned Marcus into a chimera and ripped out his eyes, and you nearly killed Tom and me,” Woodgrove stated, the fires around her making her eyes seem like part of the gold light in the deepening dark of night. “Anything else you'd like to confess to, Mother?”

 

Out of the darkness stepped the Dame Woodgrove, her eyes seeming more red than brown in the firelight. She was clearly hiding something, judging by the shit eating grin that was on her face, as if she'd already won.

 

“Only two things,” the Dame Woodgrove stated.

 

“Go on,” Detective Woodgrove growled.

 

“I killed Alexander,” she smiled, it was something Al would carry to his grave.

 

“You killed Daddy?” the tone in Detective Woodgrove's voice was the type a person took on when the camel's legs were about to give.

 

“He was going to take Marcus to some specialist, really, take my baby away from me. I think not!” Dame Woodgrove continued to speak. “I faked Marcus' death…he didn't believe me, but he wasn't home for the funeral. He figured it out far too soon. I led him to Marcus, then I killed him. I never thought I'd miss the optimistic fool. Pity that.”

 

“What is the other thing? You did say you had two more confessions,” Woodgrove stated and it was in that moment Roy knew something very bad was about to happen.

 

“I made something especially for you, Angelina,” Dame Woodgrove smiled.

 

 

~*~

 

 

Ed and Havoc looked at the hallway, each way led to a door. Both had a glass window fogged to look pretty, one showed the darkness of night, the other showed the golden-yellow light of flames.

 

“Colonel,” they both whispered and the creature began to scream and it ran for the door hiding fire. It clawed at the door, screaming and slowly the two men moved towards the door.

 

 

~*~

 

 

“You always were so much like me, so devoted to your family. I know when you lost Matthew, it nearly broke your heart. I know when Alan deserted you, you were shattered. Sadly, I killed Alan, he came back, he wanted to make it up to you but he met me first. He admitted that to me before I took him out for a little lake voyage, he supplied the blood, that reptile supplied the excuse and I got away with murder…twice.”

 

“You…you killed Alan…” there was the sound of something breaking inside of Detective Woodgrove.

 

“I felt horrible about that, so I decided to give you back your piece of Alan,” Dame Woodgrove stated. “Besides, he was my first grandson.”

 

“No…” the gasp the fell from Detective Woodgrove's lips sounded like the straw that broke the camel's back falling through the air. Dame Woodgrove stepped to the side and exposed the child, probably only five years old. Golden hair and eyes that matched Edward Elric's perfectly. He smiled at her, he hobbled, one leg slightly deformed and one arm missing.

 

“Mommy!” he cried in a voice full of joy and Angelina Woodgrove fell to her knees. Those present felt their hearts scream in terror at the pain the woman must be going through looking at the thing that was once her son, reborn as something not quite him.

 

“No…” the tears on her cheeks were back and this time with a completely torn look. The pain of seeing her son and knowing her mother's betrayals, clashed with the expression that only a parent could understand and Maes Hughes swore that if Woodgrove didn't kill her mother…he would.

 

“Mommy….missed…you…” the child spoke, hobbling over to the kneeling woman who was slowly shaking her head.

 

“Not Matt, not my baby,” she whispered and the voice that escaped her throat was ragged, as if all the night she had mourned her son had been only a day prior. It was a horrid sound full of hope and despair. The child-thing stood before its mother and smiled.

 

“Mommy!” it cried, dropping its crutch and clinging to the woman. She didn't respond, slowly she stared up at the sky, her body convulsing. “I…missed….Mommy…”

 

“I….I missed you too….Matt,” Woodgrove whispered as she buried her face into her once-son's neck, her arms slowly wrapping around his tiny frame.

 

 

~*~

 

AN: *smirks* So who saw that coming? Come on, people guessed it was Woodgrove's mother, who realized that Dame Woodgrove resurrected Woodgrove's son. Oh, and this explains to everyone why Woodgrove and her siblings always started off her husband and son's names as “Al…” and “Ma…”. That's right Alan was Woodgrove's husband, and Matthew was her son! *smiles* Review and let me know what you think. Am I still slamming you with things you didn't expect or have you all gotten used to my style?