Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ The Unforgivable Sin ❯ Chapter 15 ( Chapter 15 )

Now, I know everyone is asking, “What took you so long, Reez? You've never been this slow before.” Well, school has started back, and the first couple weeks were spent getting everything together. And once that settled down, Katrina came in and turned my life upside down again. Stupid hurricane… Finally, there's the ever present excuse of writer's block. I'm having a bad case of it right now. That being said, try to enjoy this chapter that I struggled through. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or FullMetal Alchemist.

 

Chapter 15

 

The train ride from Serra's Point to East City took about two days, and I stepped into the East City station feeling dirty, grumpy, and sick to death of all the danger and misfortune that one mistake had brought to me. In short, I was ready to find Ed, return to Central, and end this whole adventure once and for all.

 

Therefore, I was highly disappointed to learn from the local sheriff that Ed had left four days ago, not long after he sent the telegram to Fuhrer Mustang. The sheriff had no idea where he had gone, either.

 

“He left in a hurry, sir,” was all he had to say. “I'm not even sure which train he took.”

 

I blew out a long sigh. “Thanks,” I told him, turning and stepping out of his office. Clouds hung thick in the dreary sky above, threatening bad weather as they had all day. Not that I cared how severe the storm would be; soon enough I'd be far away from here. Ed wasn't here, and I had no clue where he had gone.

 

With a sigh, I turned my steps to the train station. When the trail is cold, I figured, return to Central and start over.

 

The rain came pouring down before I was even halfway to the station. With a mild curse, I resisted the temptation to duck into a nearby doorway; there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't have a rain coat with me, and there was nothing else I could use as a cover. With a sigh, I resigned myself to getting soaked to the bone and continued to the station.

 

Few people were on the streets now, and those who had to brave the rain were rushing along the street, eager to reach their destinations and get out of the downpour. Only one figure I passed seemed to be in no hurry, a tall man with a hooded cloak. As we passed each other, I glanced up into his face. A pale face, with gleaming violet eyes and a sadistic grin.

 

Wrath!

 

I threw myself to the side as I spun around, and the backhand chop that he had thrown at me met only flying hair. He glared at me as I faced him, keeping in a defensive crouch as I watched his every move.

 

“The Head Alchemist's little pet,” he sneered, his eyes boring holes into me. “How very nice to meet you here.”

 

My first instinct was to back away, but he followed me, step by step, grinning all the while. “What do you want from me?” I asked as I gave up the back-away game and stood still. While intimidating, this Homunculus did not have the terrorizing effect on me that Greed's presence so often bestowed.

 

“Want from you?” Wrath snorted, his lips turning up in a humorless smile as he took another step forward. “Nothing in particular. On the other hand, though, you've been quite the distraction to my…partner. And I don't need to have him distracted.”

 

“So what? You're going to kill me?”

 

“The thought crossed my mind, yes.” Wrath lunged forward, his right leg sweeping around for a wicked kick, but I had anticipated his attack and jumped to my right, deftly avoiding the kick and countering with a backhand chop to his knee. The raven-haired man was far too quick, however, and my hand met nothing but empty air. “You'll have to do better than—” His eyes bulged suddenly.

 

While he had foolishly paused to talk, I had darted forward and planted a fist in his solar plexus. As I backed away, he doubled over, trying desperately to regain his breath. I didn't bother to stick around and follow it up, either. This was a fight I couldn't to win, so I did the most sensible thing I could.

 

I turned and ran for the train station.

 

The rain was still hammering down, and a flash of distant lightning accompanied it as I ducked into an alley, hoping that it was a shortcut to the station. The sooner I got there and onto the train, the better. I didn't want to face that madman again.

 

Wishes often prove to be in vain, however, and Wrath must have recovered quickly, for even as I turned onto the road that led to the station, he caught my shoulder and spun me into a hard punch to the face. Lights exploded in my head as his fist connected with my temple, and I wrenched away as I staggered back, trying to get away though I couldn't even tell where I was going.

 

Through the haze of pain that obscured my sense, I felt him coming after me, and in desperation I drew one of my concealed throwing daggers, slashing out blindly with it. The whistling dagger met nothing but empty air, and a hand grabbed my wrist before I could pull back. My vision had begun to clear by now, and Wrath's twisted, snarling face dominated the view as he began to drag me closer to him.

 

Instead of resisting, I reversed my grip on the dagger and stabbed downward. The Homunculus howled and released me as the sharp blade bit deep into his wrist. I wasted no time in turning, more than ready to resume my flight to the train station, but once again Wrath was too fast for me, and even as I took my first step, a solid blow slammed into the mall of my back, and I stumbled down into the mud of the street, dropping the dagger as more pain jolted through my body.

 

“You're going to pay for that,” Wrath growled as I struggled to get up. My automail refused to respond correctly, though, and I vaguely wondered if my back was broken. A rough hand grabbed my hair near the front of my scalp and pulled me up to a kneeling position, and once again I was confronted with Wrath's leering face.

 

He held my dagger, and he held it close to my throat. Too close. Its blade glinted as drops of rain hit it, running down the flat and trickling along the edge to his fingers. Oh, God, he's really going to kill me!

 

“No more distractions,” he murmured with an insane smirk. “Greed will be free now to follow my plans.”

 

Somewhere close by, across the street perhaps, a woman screamed. As if to add to that high-pitched melody, a baby's wail rose in harmony. The symphony of my salvation.

 

Wrath dropped the dagger and let go of me as the chorus rose. “Shut up!” he yelled. “Shut up! Make him shut up!”

 

The woman screamed again as I reached down to pick up my fallen weapon and tuck it away. The movement was automatic, brought on by one of the lessons Ed had drilled into my brain: don't let your weapons fall into enemy hands. And if they do, get them back. Dimly, I was aware of Wrath moving away from me, towards the woman, and I clenched my fists, fully aware that he would kill her if he had the chance.

 

He had that chance if I didn't do anything.

 

I couldn't yet trust my legs to obey my brain, so instead of getting up to run after him I turned to the next best help option. Clapping my hands together, I sent a transmutation through the mud of the street, hardening the rain-softened earth and pulling it from the surrounding ground violently in the form of wickedly sharp spikes. Spikes that caught Wrath before he could reach the woman, caught him and impaled him with a sickening crunch of splintering bone.

 

Only then did I try to move. The automail squeaked in protest as I carefully climbed to my feet, eternally grateful that my back wasn't broken after all. It still hurt like the devil though, and I nearly fell as I turned to face the horrified woman.

 

“Run!” I called to her over her baby's screams. “Get out of here! Now!”

 

My shout startled her out of her frozen terror, and she whirled and fled, now calling for the police. I didn't plan to stick around to answer to the authorities, though; Wrath may be dead, but I had been dealing with Homunculi long enough to know he wouldn't stay dead, and I certainly didn't plan to be around when he woke up.

 

So I started once again for the train station, hoping fervently that I would make it before the next train left.

 

I didn't have the time to wait for the next one.

 

* * *

 

“I thought I told you to stay in Serra's Point,” Mustang said, one eye twitching ever so slightly as he glared at me.

 

I returned the look with a blank stare of my own. “You told me to go to Serra's Point,” I answered. “You didn't tell me to stay there.”

 

The Fuhrer couldn't say anything to that; he was caught in a logic trap. The twitch in his eye grew more pronounced. “I assumed you would be smart and stay there until the danger is past,” he said smoothly.

 

“The danger followed me there. Didn't you get the hijack report? Greed was on that train.”

 

Another logic trap. Mustang opened and closed his mouth several times before he decided on something to say. “Did you get what you had to from Serra's Point?” he asked at last, settling back in his chair and crossing his arms.

 

“Yes, sir,” I said with a nod. “I then went to East City to find Colonel Elric, but he had already left. So I came back here to find out if he's sent any further reports.”

 

“As a matter of fact, he's returned to Central at last.” Mustang made a face. “It's about time, too. He stayed a little too long in East City.”

 

“So I can find him in his office?”

 

“He does have a lot of paperwork to catch up on, yes.” The Fuhrer waved in the direction of the door. “You should be reporting to him and not me anyways.”

 

“Thank you, sir,” I said with a salute, and then I left his office and headed for Ed's. True to Mustang's word, the Head of State Alchemy was sitting at his desk, buried in a pile of papers that had been accumulating during his extended absence.

 

“Geez, I go away from Central for a month or two, and all this work piles up,” he complained as I poked my head in. “What's that stupid Mustang been doing all this time, anyways?”

 

“Well, everyone knows he likes to neglect his own work,” I pointed out. “So maybe he passed some on to you.”

 

Ed yelped and jumped when I spoke, accidentally knocking over a stack of papers and scattering them on the floor. “Dammit, Major, can't you knock?” he growled as he came around the desk to pick the papers up.

 

“The door was open, sir,” I answered. “Besides, I was curious as to why you were babbling to yourself. Work got you down?”

 

Ed straightened up and dumped the papers back on his desk. “I hate desk jobs,” he huffed. “This is why I didn't want to be the Head of State Alchemy in the first place. But no, Mustang had to insist on it. Musta been his newest torture idea for me.” He sighed slumped down in his chair again. “So you have…what you need?”

 

“Yes, sir,” I said, touching my vest pocket without really realizing it.

 

“Good. Anything else to report?”

 

“Ah, yes.” I shuffled my feet uncomfortably. “After, ah, leaving Serra's Point, I took the train to East City, hoping to find you. There I ran into Wrath.”

 

Ed dropped his pen. “You what?” he gasped. “But…but Wrath had…”

 

“Moved to Central?” I shrugged. “Either he went back, or it was only Greed who went.”

 

“Oh, dammit,” he snarled. “And you met him there? How'd you survive?”

 

“I'm not quite sure myself.” I frowned at the memory. “He...there was a woman nearby, holding a baby. They both started screaming, and he ran at them, yelling at them to shut up. I was able to…kill him and get away. But I don't understand—”

 

“You wouldn't,” Ed interrupted with a weary-sounding sigh. “Wrath does have a weakness, though it doesn't mean much. He hates it when a baby cries.”

 

“He…what?” I stared at him blankly.

 

“Look, I told you how Wrath was made, right? By a woman who had lost her child to miscarriage.”

 

“Yes,” I said with a nod. “She used the body in the transmutation.”

 

“That's right.” Ed leaned back with another sigh. “This is kind of hard to explain, but…Homunculi carry imprints of who they were supposed to be. Like Sloth. My brother and I created her out of love for our mother. We wanted our mother back. As a result, Sloth often used a motherly tone when she talked to people. What little feelings she possessed seemed to be a mother's feelings. You see what I mean?”

 

“So…” I said slowly as I attempted to put the pieces together. “Wrath…because a mother pining for her lost child made him…would make him think like a child wanting his mother?”

 

“Something like that. Except that even that got screwed up for him. See, right after he was transmuted, Sensei—Izumi, I mean—put him back beyond the Gate. It was there that he grew up, until I accidentally released him years later. Now he hates to hear a child cry; if I had to guess at why, I'd guess that it was because he was abandoned.”

 

“Wow,” I muttered as I digested this new piece of information. “He…Izumi…put him beyond the Gate? Why?”

 

Ed shrugged. “Couldn't stand the sight of the monster she had created, I guess. Or the thought of the sin she had committed against her child.”

 

“I can understand that.” I frowned as I thought about his words. “Wait…so, the alchemist put him on the other side of the Gate? How did he get back?”

 

“Like I said, I let him out,” the Colonel explained with an air of strained patience. “When I opened the Gate. He took my arm and leg, and he escaped into our world.”

 

I chose to ignore the curious reference to his lost limbs. “So…could we possibly send him back to the other side?”

 

“It's a thought,” he said, leaning forward again and riffling idly through a stack of documents. “But I doubt he'll go willingly.”

 

“I'm guessing you've thought of this before?” At his confirming nod, I continued, “So why haven't you tried it? You've had plenty of time to think up a plan.”

 

“Because Wrath hasn't been bothering me that much these past fifteen years. I had thought that the deaths of the other Homunculi and the person who was controlling them had calmed his murderous tendencies a bit. But I suppose now that he has Greed to back him up, he's gotten bolder.”

 

I grimaced. “Sorry.”

 

“It's not your fault, Major. There's no way you could have known what trying human transmutation would bring.” Ed put down his pen and rubbed both hands over his face. “Well…this is your idea now. What do you propose we do?”

 

“Is there any way to open the Gate without trying human transmutation?”

 

“There is,” he confirmed. “But I'm not sure I want to use it.”

 

“It can't be as bad as human transmutation,” I said with a frown.

 

“Define bad.” Ed picked up the pen again and started tapping its point against his desk. “All of have a small Gate within us, but we can't easily access it. Children, however, are a different story. The younger one is, the closer one is to that internal Gate.”

 

“You're saying...” I began around the lump in my throat, “that if we really do this…we'll have to use a child?”

 

“A baby,” Ed corrected gravely.

 

“And…will it hurt the baby?”

 

“Not to my knowledge, no.” Ed threw his pen down again. “But you see why I don't like the idea.”

 

“Yes, sir,” I said. “But it seems to be the only one we have.”

 

The Colonel sat back and gave me a long, searching stare. “It sure does,” he said at last. “Why don't you take a trip to the infirmary? You look a little beat up.”

 

“Thanks for noticing,” I answered dryly. “But it's only a couple of bruises. I'll be fine.”

 

“All the same, you should go home and rest,” Ed insisted. “I'll think about what to do about Wrath. Report back to me tomorrow at eight o'clock, Major, and be sure to get cleaned up before then.”

 

“Yes, sir,” I said, standing up and saluting.

 

He flapped his hand vaguely at the door. “Out.”