Second Life - 5

Chapter Five

“I’m back,” the blond alchemist announced as he slammed the door shut. He dropped the books on a table and moved over to the sofa, where his younger brother was. Edward sprawled ungraceful next to him.

Alphonse looked up from his book. “What did Colonel Mustang want to know, Niisan?” he inquired while he put aside his book.

Ed glared at the empty suit of armor. “Come on, Al. I already told you that. Don’t play the dumb guy here. It’s not that interesting to say it more than once and you should know it.”

“… Niisan, you haven’t told me anything.” Alphonse sounded puzzled. “I haven’t seen you anymore after I told you that the Colonel wanted to talk to you.”

“Al, stop joking,” Ed grunted. “I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“But, Niisan, I really haven’t seen you after that.”

Edward was about to give a hot retort when he realized Al would never be able to pull off a joke like that. “… You are really serious about that, aren’t you?”

Al nodded. “I wouldn’t have asked it otherwise, Niisan. The Colonel didn’t want to say anything to me and I went back to the dorm immediately after I found you. I thought that would be the best place to wait for you.”

“But… then… to whom have I just spoken to?” Ed exclaimed astonished. “I did talk to you after I left Mustang, I did tell you about what has happened. It has to have been you. There are no other suits of armor like this walking around and I’d recognize your voice any time.”

“Niisan, do you remember that guy who could change himself into Brasque Gran? What if he could change himself into me as well?”

Ed stared at his younger brother for a long time before he gathered his wits again. “You mean… I just briefed everything over to a Homonculus?” He jumped on his feet, running at the door. “We have to warn the Colonel, Al. Quick!”

“Hn!” His brother followed him with a lot of noise, catching up quickly with the smaller boy.

The two ran out of the dorms and on to the streets. It rained, but neither of them cared about it, even though the rain made the pavement slippery. Energetically, Edward sought his way through the maze of streets…

…and came suddenly to an end when he stood face to face with the three Homonculus. Lust and Gluttony stood there with a show of absolute innocence. The third, Envy, smirked malicious at the two boys.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Hagane no Chibi-san. Fancy meeting you here.”

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

With a deep sigh, Mustang slammed the book shut and picked up the next one. It was the umpteeth book he opened, the umpteeth book he would read and try to find clues to what was happening. Of course, he didn’t find a single thing, and after half an hour, he closed it again and put it away.

“No luck?” the ghostly figure of Hughes asked, looking up from his own book.

“I don’t understand why they were important to you,” Mustang grunted sourly. He scratched absently his head. “What about you?”

Hughes shrugged. “I think I have more luck than you do. But then, I started this research in the first place. First of all, we know the Ishvar war was started by a soldier named Juliet Douglas, only she was dead even before the war erupted and as it turns out, she’s now secretary of the Führer and a Homonculus. Second, the Homonculus want the Philosopher’s Stone for some obscure reason. But…” His voice trailed off as he leafed through the books. “Ah, here it is. According to this file, right before the Philosopher’s Stone would be created, everyone involved in it dies and all evidence vanishes. My guess is that the Homonculus are behind it.” Hughes frowned. “Only that doesn’t make any sense, because if they want people to create the Philosopher’s Stone, why would they kill everyone involved just before it is completed? I can understand you want to hide the evidence, but it would be more logic if that was done after the completion of the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“Maybe they want that only a rumor exists,” Mustang mused. “Then that would mean-” He broke himself off and shook his head. “No, never mind. You’re right, it’s illogical. But who knows what’s logical to a Homonculus?”

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

“Well, well, if it isn’t Hagane no Chibi-san. Fancy meeting you here.” The sentence kept repeating itself in his head as he assaulted the evil trio. He would never win this fight and he knew it. What happened at the fifth laboratory was proof enough. But Edward wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

He could hear his brother engaged in a fight with Gluttony and Lust. If it was possible, he would have rushed over to kick their asses and tell them to leave Al alone, but Envy made that option rather impossible. Edward ducked away to avoid a blow and kicked the palm-haired Homonculus straight in his stomach.

This fight was useless. Unless they possessed some bits of the Homonculus’ bodies, they would never stand a chance. All they had to do was to distract them long enough so they could escape.

A sudden hit in his stomach caused him to fly through the air and Edward landed painfully on the cobblestones. The crash left him gasping for breath. A hard kick followed, and a third one and a fourth one. Just when he expected the fifth blow, his brother shouted, “Stay away from him!”

It was a useless sentence – even more useless than this fight – but it worked. The palm-haired Homonculus got distracted and Edward seized that opportunity to deliver a firm and precise kick against the Homonculus’ knees. It had the desired effect; Envy was sent spinning away to give the small blond some breathing room.

“Al! Run!”

Edward didn’t look back as he sprinted away from the fighting scene. He didn’t have to – Al made enough noise when he ran to tell him his younger brother managed to shake off his two attackers. The young Alchemist ran as fast as he could through the maze of streets and alleys to get away from the three Homonculus.

“Are they gone?” he wheezed when he finally paused to catch his breath again.

Al looked carefully behind them. “Hn, I’d say they didn’t follow us. Are you alright, Niisan?”

“Just… catching… my breath.” Edward leaned against the wall and waited until his breath had become slower. “Alright, let’s move on. The Colonel’s house shouldn’t be that far away from here anymore.”

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

“Alright, I give it up,” Mustang grumbled. “If I have to look into one of those damn books any longer, I think I’ll have to scream.”

“Oh, that’d be fun,” Hughes commented dryly. “I haven’t heard you scream since you were twelve. What did ever happen to that guy that bullied you at high school?”

“He had a small accident,” Mustang answered shortly.

“He had? I never heard of it?”

The dark Colonel shrugged indifferently. “Apparently, someone punched him in the face and he lost half of his teeth. At least I think he was looking for his teeth. He must’ve been looking for something, with all that crawling over the ground.”

“I never thought you were good at fighting,” his friend said surprised.

“Of course I am. I just don’t like it. That’s the difference.”

A loud banging on the door interrupted their conversation. The two friends blinked in unison, then gazed at each other in astonishment. Who could that ever be? The knocking continued and tension grew in the small study room.

“Shouldn’t you answer it?” the former leader of the Investigation department inquired.

“Maybe.”

Hughes watched him for several seconds. “You’re afraid.”

“I’m not afraid, I’m cautious. I don’t like the idea of inviting some enemy in my house.”

“But you don’t know if it’s the enemy.” The knocking broke off abruptly. “… I really think you should answer it now, Roy.”

Mustang stood reluctantly up and answered the door. “… Fullmetal.”

Edward froze in the middle of a step. “So you are at home, Colonel. Respond faster the next time, because if I’m in danger, I could end up dead because of your laziness.”

“I am not lazy, Fullmetal. Did something happen?”

“Did something happen?” Edward imitated his superior voice. “May my arm fall off if it didn’t happen! Yes! Yes, goddammit, something did happen! Now can we come in or shall I just shout through the whole city what just had happened?!”

“You can come in once you’ve calmed down, Fullmetal. I’m not in the mood of all this yelling from you today.” He stepped aside to let the Elric brothers inside. Edward glared and stamped into the house. Alphonse followed with an uneasy expression. Mustang still found it a miracle how Alphonse managed to convey expressions with that suit of armor of his.

He closed the door behind him and followed the two brothers to the living room. Hughes had emerged from the small study as well and watched amused at the Elric brothers.

“So what brings you here, Fullmetal?”

“We met the Homonculus. They know what we’re trying to do.”

A stunned silence. “How?”

“I met this guy called Envy, only I thought he was Al. He asked what you wanted to talk about, so I told him. Then I got back at the dorm, where the real Al was and then I discovered that I had not been talking to my brother, but to this psycho. We decided to warn you then, but the three Homonculus blocked our path and we had a fight. At some point, we managed to escape and we ran as fast as we could to this place.”

There was a long moment of silence as both Hughes as well as Mustang thought this bad news over.

“That’s serious,” the taller man finally commented.

“Aa, it is,” the Colonel nodded.

Alphonse blinked confused. Or better said; if he could blink, he would have done it right there at the spot. “Ano… what is what, Colonel?” he asked politely.

Cursing himself for his own inattentiveness, Mustang laughed sheepishly at the younger Elric. “Ah, sorry. Just finishing an unspoken thought out loud. I thought that this was serious. It’s not that the Homonculus know what we know that’s serious – no doubt that they’d found out about it anyway sooner or later – but what concerns me mostly is the way how they got this information.”

Edward did his best to stifle his laughter; Roy had trouble with keeping his face straight. Hughes had provided almost literary every word of that little speech and that frustrated the fearsome Alchemist more than just a little. He didn’t need someone to tell him simple things like that.

“Ah, I understand it. But what should we do now?”

“We need to find information first.” Roy considered the situation. “How much have you told your brother?”

“The Envy-Al or the real Al?” A stern gaze from the Flame Alchemist. “Alright, alright, relax. I didn’t tell Al anything, because I didn’t have the time for it. As soon as I found out that I’d just briefed everything over to a Homonculus, I thought it would be best to inform you immediately.”

“I see. Alphonse, we believe that Brigadier General Hughes was murdered because he discovered too much about the true nature of the Homonculus and what happened at the fifth laboratory.” He glared in Hughes’ direction, who mimicked a most dramatic death, which involved a lot of gurgling, gasping and twitching.

Hughes caught the scowl and recovered instantly. “I’ll continue with this investigation of ours.”

Mustang thought that was a very wise decision of him before he felt obliged to find out if ghosts could burn as well.

“Lieutenant colonel Hughes was murdered because of that?” Shock echoed in the young boy’s voice.

“We believe he was, yes. And there is a strong suspicion that it has happened from inside the military. That’s why we need information first – to find out who are with the enemy and who are not. Only after that, we can form our plan to disrupt their plans – whatever they are.”

“We already know their plans,” Edward announced quietly. “The Homonculus need the Philosopher’s Stone, because they want to become human. We also know how the Homonculus are born, Colonel.”