Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. Hiromu Arakawa does. I only own the OC characters.
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Salazar was out of breath by the time he reached Dr. Martin's study. All the while, his thoughts kept tumbling over each other. It was most definitely the military who had showed up at their doorstep. How they had found their exact location was beyond him, but he knew that was the least of their worries. When he burst through the door and slammed it shut behind him flustered, he found the other three chimeras had beat him. Martin was having a heated discussion with Roxy at that particular moment.
"I told you that you needed to cover your tracks! Your carelessness has led the military right to us!" the doctor screamed.
"We did our best, Martin! It's not our fault that the military actually has some smart people in it. We want the Stone as badly as you do, but I told you it was a bad idea to kidnap someone as important as a State Alchemist. The military would have been on our ass either way!" the female chimera sounded like she was losing her patience.
"I don't want or need any lectures from you, you wench!" Martin retaliated. Glancing at Salazar who had just entered the room, his expression became firmly set. "Salazar," he addressed, dangerously calm. "You've arrived. Tell me, where is the Fullmetal Alchemist?"
Salazar swallowed. "He's safe in his room, Martin, you don't have to worry," he replied.
Martin, who was standing behind his desk, moved out from behind it, running a hand through his hair. "We have no choice but to use the alternate escape route. We have to go and retrieve him now. We're leaving."
"But we don't even know if that's safe. If we do escape, where will we go? We'll be constantly on the run from the military. It'll be better if we just leave the runt here," Salazar reasoned.
Martin stopped just in front of Salazar, his face inches away from the chimera's. "He's too valuable to give up right now. We're on the verge of achieving the dream we always wanted. Do you want to throw that away just because of a little setback?"
Salazar found that he couldn't stare into that intense gaze for very long. He looked down at the floor, hiding his eyes. Martin moved past him. "I didn't think so," he threw back over his shoulder. He stalked out the door, the chimeras following after him.
When they reached Ed's door, the doctor stopped in front of it. "Wait here," he ordered. he shouldered his way into the room, leaving the chimeras by themselves. Salazar knew that this would be his opportunity. "Guys, over here," he waved them into a huddle, facing away from the door. "There's something I have to tell all of you."
Without hesitation, Salazar told them the secret of the Philosopher's Stone. He explained why Edward would want to keep the Stone from him at all costs. When he finished, everyone was just as shocked as he was.
"I never liked the little bastard, but I understand," Roxy agreed. "We can't let him stay in Martin's grasp for much longer."
"Chung doesn't get it. Would Martin betray us? He's done so much for us," the monkey-like chimera asked.
"He only rescued us so we could do his dirty work for him," Salazar explained. "I'm sorry, Chung, but he's not who we thought he was."
Chung visibly sagged. Bimbo spoke up next. "How are we going to get the little guy away from Martin? He'll never let him out of his sight," the bronze giant pointed out.
Salazar put a hand to his chin. "We need a plan," he agreed. However, there was no time to formulate one, since Martin emerged from the room just then, Edward tucked firmly under his arm. It was surprising that he was able to carry Fullmetal like that, since the kid was really heavy with his automail. But he was able to hold him up with ease. He was stronger than Salazar gave him credit for.
"We need to move now," he told the waiting chimeras, not stopping for a response. He strode past all of them, leaving the chimeras no other choice but to follow. They would have to act soon, before Martin got away with the young alchemist.
Everyone was silent when they moved through the corridors, even Edward. Someone might have already been in the building after the entrance was opened, and they were trying not to attract too much attention to themselves. Salazar, meanwhile, was going through outcomes in his head. All of them were powerful chimeras; Salazar himself had a venomous bite. They could easily take down Martin if they went all at once. But it was too risky. Martin had a good hold of Edward, and there was no possible way that they could get him away from the doctor without keeping the blond teen out of harm's way. They would need a distraction. Fortunately, they still had the element of surprise on their side.
The distraction came most unexpectedly at the end of the hall they were walking along. It was difficult to see in the candlelight, but it appeared to be a seven-foot-tall suit of armor. Salazar rubbed his eyes and looked again. No, he wasn't seeing things. A suit of armor with glowing red eyes stood at the end of the hall, blocking their way. If the armor had any sort of expression, it looked as if it was as startled to come across them as they were to it. It looked at each of them in turn, until its gaze fell upon Edward, tucked securely under Martin's left arm. Its eyes seemed to widen at the sight of the chained alchemist.
"Brother! Is that you?" it spoke, as if not believing what he was seeing.
Up until then, Edward had been staring at the towering suit of armor, as if trying to take in what he was seeing. When the armor spoke, his face lit up. "Al!" he called, starting to wriggle around in Martin's grasp.
The face of the armor lit up as well. "You had me worried, Brother. You always seem to get yourself into trouble," Alphonse said, crossing his arms.
Ed smirked. "Oh come on, Al, you know this isn't something I can't handle," he shot back.
"It looks like you're handling it really well, Brother," Al said sarcastically.
"Enough with the chatter!" Martin's voice cut in. He pointed a finger at the hulking suit of armor in front of him. "Tell me who you are," he demanded.
Al uncrossed his arms and spread his feet farther apart. "I don't know who you are, mister, but I have to ask you to let my brother go," he told Martin.
Martin's face relaxed into an amused expression. "Oh, so you're this alchemist's younger brother. To be honest, I didn't expect you to be a suit of armor. Tell me, young man, how did you find this place?"
"That's none of your business," Al responded, taking a fighting stance. It looked like this guy wasn't going to let Ed go without a fight. When he first saw his older brother chained in the man's grasp, it took all of his self-control not to unleash his anger.
Martin turned to the chimeras behind him. "Deal with him while I go on ahead," he ordered.
Salazar exchanged glances with Roxy, and nodded. The female chimera made ready as if to dash forward. When she did, she appeared right next to Martin, on the side where he held Edward. Her hand was circled around his arm tightly, her claws protruding, threatening to break skin. Needless to say, Martin stared at her incredulously.
"Let go of the kid, Martin, if you know what's good for you," she said in a threatening tone, flashing her razor sharp teeth.
Martin's expression darkened considerably. "You betray me?" he asked.
"No, Martin," Salazar said. "You betrayed us."
Martin acted as though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But why? All I'm doing is trying to help you. I told you it wouldn't come easy. Don't tell me you've grown a soft spot for a dog of the military?"
"It's not about that," Roxy said. "We can't let you have the Stone. You were never going to use it to fix us anyways."
Martin's look lit up with realization. "I see. The Fullmetal Alchemist put lies in your head to turn you against me. I never thought you would be so easily fooled by a child."
"Give up the game, Martin," Salazar cut in. "You're not fooling us anymore."
Martin's gaze switched between Roxy and Salazar, as if contemplating. Without warning, he jerked himself out of Roxy's grasp. Upon seeing this, Alphonse drew a quick transmutation circle on the floor, and activated it. Stone hands peeled themselves from the walls, their course trained on Martin.
Martin saw the attack coming, and dove towards the ground. The stone hands went over him harmlessly, but he lost his grip on Edward. The bound alchemist rolled when he hit the floor, landing not too far away from Martin. The doctor quickly scrabbled to his feet. He scooped Edward back up as he run past, darting down an adjacent hallway, away from everyone else.
"Al!" Ed called out behind him as he was taken down the hallway.
"Brother! Let him go!" Al called after Martin.
"We need to chase after him, Roxy! Before he gets to the escape route," Salazar called to the female chimera.
"On it!" she confirmed, using her speed to easily catch up with the suit of armor, who had started his own chase down the hall that Martin had fled to. The rest of the chimeras followed close behind.
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'Damn those filthy chimeras!' Martin thought vehemently. 'This is the worst possible time for them to turn against me!'
He ran as fast as he could with a midget that had automail tucked under his arm. He told himself that it would be fine once he reached the escape route. The little brat had doubled his efforts to wriggle out of his grasp. "Let go of me, you old bastard!" he yelled, annoyed.
"Watch your language, Edward. I don't want to have to punish you for that dirty mouth of yours," he rebuked. He was getting fed up with how the day was going, and he didn't need the alchemist's comments right now.
He was too busy being angry that he almost didn't notice the group of three soldiers blocking his path when he turned another bend. There were two men and one woman. The tallest man out of all of them stood in front of the other two. The man and woman behind him had their guns raised. The black-haired, onyx-eyed man just stood with his feet firmly set, his hands in the pockets of his uniform.
Martin knew exactly who this man was when he saw him. "Colonel Roy Mustang," he said. "Such an honor to be graced by the presence of the Hero of Ishval."
Mustang just continued to stare him down. "Since you already introduced me, I'll do the same for you, Dr. Howard Martin. Your work was highly appraised in Laboratory 5." He paused. "I'm here because it seems as though you have one of my subordinates."
Mustang withdrew his hands from his pockets to reveal his white ignition gloves. He positioned his middle finger against his thumb, ready to snap.
Martin laughed. "You know as well as I do that if you let loose your flames in here, your precious subordinate incinerates along with me."
Mustang didn't lose his composure, but he knew the doctor was right. Edward was right in the path of his flames. He would get caught in the blaze if he fired them here. However, his thoughts were interrupted when Al and the chimeras came right up behind the doctor. They stopped when they saw the situation unfolding in front of them.
Mustang became irritated. "Alphonse, I thought I told you to stay on the surface," he scolded the young boy.
"I know, Colonel, but I couldn't sit back and do nothing," Al tried to explain himself.
"That's not the point. You disobeyed me, and put yourself in potential danger," the colonel continued.
"Will you two stop arguing? It's getting on my nerves," Martin cut in, reminding everyone of his presence.
Mustang turned his attention back to the matter at hand. "It's over, Martin. Hand over Fullmetal now, and I'll consider putting less charges on you."
Roxy stepped forward. "You're outnumbered here, Martin," she told him. "Just put the kid down."
Martin smirked. "On the contrary, Mustang. You know how a hostage situation works. You agree to my terms. And my terms are that I get to walk out of here, with the Fullmetal Alchemist." He turned his head to glance at the chimeras behind him. "All of you are fools. I'll admit, I was surprised when you figured me out, Salazar. Say, when did you begin to suspect?"
Salazar glared at Martin. "Ever since the beginning of the job you sent us on," he replied.
Martin chuckled. "I see," he said, turning back around to look at Mustang. "It's true that I only want the Philosopher's Stone to myself. And I'll use any means necessary to get it."
Roxy glanced at Salazar. The weedy man nodded to her. With that confirmation, she turned her gaze back to Martin, more specifically, the bundle that he kept tucked under his arm. She crouched down into an animal-like stance. In a blur, she appeared next to Martin before he realized she was there. Reaching out, she easily sliced through the metal chains that bound the young alchemist, using her sharp claws. Martin realized this before it was too late.
Edward felt the give in his binds. Realizing what this meant, he flashed a wicked grin, and brought his hands together behind his back. He transmuted his automail into a deadly sword. Martin dropped him and jumped to the side before the blade could pierce his side.
Ed felt rejuvenated. After being in his bonds for so long, he was finally free from them. And the man that he was staring down couldn't hurt him anymore. He never felt more alive. Still keeping his grin, the young alchemist shouted, "Not so tough any more, are you?" as he clapped his hands together again. He sent a volley of spikes towards Martin's head. The man dodged them by an inch, springing away to his right, sprawling on the floor as he did so. When he scrambled back to his feet, he was caught unawares by Salazar. The male chimera was going for his throat.
Salazar bit down hard on the man's neck, injecting his venom into the man's bloodstream. He held on long enough to put in a lethal dose, before Martin pushed him away, ripping his teeth from the doctor's flesh. Salazar staggered back, the taste of blood and his own venom filling his mouth.
Martin clutched at the bite wound on his neck. To Salazar's bewilderment, he began to laugh. The chimera's eyes widened when the doctor pulled out a syringe. "You idiot! You didn't think I would have the antidote to your venom, snake?" he spat out the last word like it offended him.
The doctor plunged the syringe into his shoulder, and pressed the plunger, still laughing all the while. Salazar cursed to himself. He should have known that Martin would have defenses to their chimera-like abilities.
Martin's crazed smile faded, however, when he felt the heat on his back. He didn't have time to register what was happening before the flames consumed him. He didn't even have time to scream. When the flames died down, there was nothing left of Howard Martin but a smoking pile of ash on the floor.
Everyone stood silently, Mustang's hand still in the air after he snapped. Then, slowly, everyone stirred. It was Edward who moved first, straightening and returning his automail back to normal with another clap and flash of alchemical light. Mustang lowered his hand and let out a deep sigh. Alphonse ran up to his older brother. "Brother, are you alright?" the suit of armor asked frantically, entering mother hen mode.
Edward looked up at Alphonse with a smile. "I'm fine, Al. I told you that you don't need to worry about me," he assured his younger brother.
Salazar, Roxy and the others walked up to the two brothers. "Well, shrimp, you didn't do too bad. You're one tough kid, I'll admit," Roxy said.
"Don't call me shrimp. And of course I am, oh ye of little faith," Edward retorted, a small vein appearing in his temple.
Salazar laughed out loud at that, unable to control himself. All it really did was earn him a death glare from the slight alchemist.
Mustang walked up to the group. "Well, Fullmetal, I saved your ass once again. I think a thank you is in order," he said condescendingly.
Edward launched into a ranting frenzy. "Are you conning me, Colonel Bastard?!" he exclaimed.
Mustang smirked down at him. "Not that I would expect one from you. You getting into trouble costs me too much paperwork anyways." Even though he was teasing him right now, Mustang couldn't help but notice the burden of worry had rolled off his shoulders once he knew that Edward was safe from Martin. He would never admit it to the young alchemist, though.
Ignoring Edward's fuming, he addressed his next order of business. "However, I still have to take you in," he said, turning to the chimeras. The atmosphere became uneasy with his words. "You still have charges of kidnapping a State Alchemist, on top of the fact of him being a minor."
"Woah, hang on a minute," Edward cut in. "You can't do that, Colonel."
"Yeah, they helped us, remember?" Alphonse added.
"To be honest, uh... Colonel, was it? We don't plan on being turned in to the Amestrain authorities. We'd rather not be poked and prodded again in another lab," Salazar said.
Mustang looked at the chimeras, then back at Ed, who was still staring defiantly at them. "Even if you escape the authorities, where will you go? You'll be constantly hunted down," he explained.
"There's an escape route that leads to some underground tunnels," Roxy answered. "They're our backup plan in case this place gets found out. They lead out into the other side of the border, in Creta. The plan was to flee there if things went bottoms up."
Mustang looked back to Edward. "Look, Colonel, even though they now know what a Philosopher's Stone is made of, they still want to find a different way to return their bodies to normal. They still deserve the chance of becoming human again, after what the government did to them," Edward explained, indicating the chimeras behind him.
Looking into the young teen's eyes, Mustang could see that he wasn't going to let this go. And if he actually followed through with their arrest, Fullmetal would never forgive him for it. He took a deep breath, and let out a long, hard sigh. "Alright, Fullmetal. I'll let this slide just this once. You better not make me regret it."
Edward smiled at that. "I promise that you won't, Colonel," he affirmed.
"We really appreciate it, Colonel Mustang," Salazar said. He turned to the young alchemist. "We also know that you and your brother continued your research with the Stone. We know that you've been trying to find a different way to create the Philosopher's Stone. I just want to tell you that we'll be doing the same thing. We'll see what we find in Creta, and if that doesn't work, we'll see what Xing has in store. I've heard that they use a different kind of alchemy than in Amestris."
Edward smiled up at him. "That sounds like a plan to me. In the meantime, we'll keep working to get our bodies back. We'll keep moving forward."
"Hopefully, by the time we meet again, we'll all have our bodies restored," Salazar promised. He held out his hand to the Fullmetal Alchemist. The young teen stared at it before raising his own hand to shake the chimera's. With that last farewell, Salazar turned to walk down the hall, towards the escape route, the rest of his friends following behind him. Roxy shot a wink at the alchemist as she walked past. Soon, all of them were out of sight.
"Come on, Fullmetal. We have a long journey ahead of us back to Central," Roy told the blond teen.
"I'm coming, Colonel Bastard. Don't rush me," came the sharp reply.
"Brother, don't be rude. He came all this way to rescue you," Alphonse chastised his brother.
"It's not like I asked for his help!" Edward exclaimed.
Mustang couldn't help but grin at the brothers' bickering. He just couldn't help it; it was amusing to him. As they walked through the structure, and out into the cool night air, Hawkeye noticed that he was grinning like an idiot. "Is something funny to you, sir?" she asked, curious.
Mustang glanced at his first lieutenant. "Oh, it's just the Elric brothers. They crack me up sometimes," he answered truthfully.
Hawkeye offered her own smile. "I suppose that's true, sir," was all that she replied with.
When they finally climbed their way out of the hole, the sky had broken open to reveal the starry heavens above. Mustang looked back at the stone tower in the hole. "The higher-ups will want the place searched to accrue any valuable research from it," he mused.
"We can't help that, sir," Hawkeye reminded him.
"I know, Lieutenant. It's just sometimes I want to burn down any sort of trace that these horrific experiments took place. But even if we destroy the evidence, it doesn't change the fact that they still happened," Mustang said gravely.
"If it makes you feel any better, sir, at least that man won't be able to do this to anyone else," Hawkeye assured.
Mustang smiled warmly at her. "I suppose it does make me feel better, at least a little."
Edward was transfixed by the pinpoints of light fixed above him. It reminded him of a time long past. "Hey, Al," he called.
"What is it, Brother?" the suit of armor asked, incredulous.
"Remember when we used to stargaze when we were little?" the young alchemist wondered.
Alphonse didn't really expect this. But he soon lost himself in thought to Ed's question. "Yes, I remember," he answered. "We used to point out the constellations to each other. Sometimes Winry or Mom would come with us. We used to beg Mom to buy us a telescope because we liked looking at the stars so much."
Edward smiled at the memory. "Yeah. Even though a telescope was too expensive for her to buy, we still asked for one."
"Until we learned alchemy and tried to make our own," Alphonse chimed in, chuckling at the thought. Edward grinned widely, remembering that too.
"Yeah, that one sucked. We barely even knew what we were doing," he added.
The brothers reminisced long into the early hours of the morning. Eventually, Edward became too tired, and fell asleep in the car, leaning against Alphonse's side. Mustang looked in the rearview mirror at the two boys in the back seat. Hawkeye noticed from the driver's side. She couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking what the Colonel was thinking. She knew she would never admit it them, but she could tell that he really cared about those boys, no matter how much they got on his nerves, Edward especially. She smiled, proud of the fact that her commanding officer actually had a fatherly touch to the Elric brothers.
With everything back to normal, as normal as it could be defined with the people in the car, they drove back to Central. Every single one of them had the motivation to keep moving forward.
END
Author's Note: It is finished! Yay! My first official fanfiction is finally complete. Even though this story was only eight chapters long, it was a long road. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me this far. This story has about 60 views if not more. This chapter is also the longest chapter in the entire story. The story itself took up 35 pages on Microsoft Word, with a whopping total of 20,950 words. And yes, that is an exact number.
I actually have another idea for a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction, which will display more of my sadistic side. Shameless sadism is shameless;) I will definitely start writing that, but I have some other fanfics coming your way, such as Bleach. Somewhere along the lines, Gravity Falls will also be making an appearance, so you have those in store for the future. Again, I feel so great in my accomplishment. I hope this is a satisfying ending for all of you. Now I just have to figure out how to change the status of this story from "Ongoing" to "Finished"XD
Again, praise is appreciated and constructive criticism is encouraged. I find value in learning how to make my writing better in the future.
See you next time!
-The_Mayflower