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Tags: babylon fullmetal alchemist longfic
Published : 1 month, 1 week ago (Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:13:23 PDT)
Searched:
http://truths-in-lies.livejournal.com/15142.html 3 links
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Babylon
Pairings: Eventual Roy/Ed.
Summary: AU. Two years after retrieving his brother's body from the Gate of Truth Edward Elric is still paying the price. Will his debt ever be repaid, or will it finally cost him everything?
Rating: M Overall - Mostly for language and occasional dark themes.
Status: Work In Progress
Length: Epic
Warnings: Spoilers for the anime.
Babylon:
Lit:
1 )The city of Babylon
2) A place of captivity or exile
3) Derived from the Greek "Bab-Ilani: The Gate of the Gods.
Babylon
Chapter Twenty-Nine: No Going Back
Puddles shattered beneath Ed's boots as he sprinted towards Rider's, his heart in his throat while the pendant burned in his pocket. The power in him was surging, rising like a wave approaching the shore as the gate sensed the other half of itself. It was a snarling animal held in the fragile cage of his body, throwing itself against the bars of his ribs and clawing at his mind.
His veins were full of a crackling power that hummed beneath his skin and made the plates of his automail shiver. Ed felt so full of it – of everything: alchemy, strength, fear and the hot, fierce surge of something for Roy. He brimmed with too many sensations and emotions to count, a vessel filled to capacity and spilling over in shimmying waves.
The earthquake slammed the street, far more ferocious than before. Stones were torn apart as everyone was pitched to the ground, sent sprawling as Central let out an animal groan. For a few thundering heartbeats there was no sound other than the roar and tumble as something, somewhere, lost its battle with gravity and was sent toppling into ruin.
Tremors danced underneath Ed's palms, and he felt the steady beat of energy contained within the writhing ground. It was strong enough to taste, teasing around his fingers in beckoning coils as the rain drummed off of his skin. A harsh wind raked over his face, its strength sharp and brutal as the thunder bellowed itself hoarse in the thick clouds overhead. The world was suffering, pulled in too many directions by too much power to survive. It was as if the pressure was building towards one final, devastating climax.
'Keep going!' he shouted, scrambling to his feet as the heave of the earthquake subsided to gasping shudders. It was easier to run than stay still, easier to find his focus and keep pushing forward than it was to stop and think of what he was about to try and do. The array to rebuild the gate was a lead weight in his mind, shifting and changing with every passing second as it pressed down through his thoughts.
A stab of pain made him flinch, but he pushed back the gate's persistent assaults. It was getting desperate, thrashing against the thin shield of Kaleo's presence in an effort to take control. Like a hound finding the scent, it had picked up on Carmine. If he lost his grip on his body then nothing would be sacred. Any life would be a worthwhile cost if it helped the gate in its destruction of its other self.
The need for supremacy was a sharp taste on his tongue, far too reminiscent of blood, and he forced himself to concentrate on the hard, steady pressure of the pavement beneath his running feet and the slap of the wind against his face. He had to focus on the here and now. If he lost that anchor then the gate would tear its way into him, and he would be powerless to stop it.
At last the streets began to widen, and the houses on either side moved from functional to decorative as the residents flaunted their wealth. Ed slowed to a halt as he hesitated over the best way forward. Cars littered the road, shaken from their places by the quakes. They gleamed black in the murky daylight, their shine breaking and running with water. The dark, hulking shapes seemed somehow ominous, their outlines highlighted with gleaming chrome.
'We need to go through the alleys to get to Rider's,' he said as Roy paused at his side, rubbing the rainwater out of his eyes as he squinted around.
'Why not keep going in a straight line? We can cut around the back-streets around The Grindle and still get there without a problem.' Roy pointed out as Breda slumped, panting, against one of the vehicles. Havoc's fitful cough was loud in the quiet, and Ed could even hear Hawkeye taking in sharp, shallow breaths of exertion. He was the only one not flushed with heat and struggling for breath. Had they really been going that fast?
'It'll take too long,' he replied, watching Roy swipe at the dark swathes of wet hair that stuck to his forehead. 'Besides, if we go straight we have to cross the river. Fuck knows what those earthquakes did to the bridges. I don't want to get all that way and find we've got to turn around because we can't get across. Come on, this way.'
No one questioned him, and he felt a tight knot twist in his stomach. Roy, Hawkeye, Al – they were all trusting him. They seemed to think he knew what he was doing, but they could not be more wrong. He had no clue if he could even activate the array that bit and scratched in his mind, a thing with a life of its own that was desperate to be free. He didn't even know if they would have the strength to overcome Carmine and her lackeys. With every step he knew that he was probably leading them to their deaths. All it took was a lucky shot or stab and that was another life he cared for snuffed out.
Even if they managed to fight back and survive, there was no guarantee what the gate would do once it was rebuilt. Al and Hughes were both tied to it, clawed back from its possession and treasured in the living world. Would it try and take them back? Would the shattered balance restore itself at any cost, regardless of the grief caused? At least when the gate was tainted with humanity, however bitter and twisted, there was an element of appeal. Begging with a machine was futile. Nothing without a soul could understand the concept of compromise.
He had to find a way to protect them, all of them. If he did nothing else, he had to make sure that the gate would not steal anyone back behind its doors. As far as he was concerned he was owed. So much had been taken for so little in return, and how many other alchemists had fallen foul of the gate of truth? How many others had stood at that threshold, faced its judgement and paid its price?
Muck beneath his boots made him slither, and he blinked in surprise. He had been running without looking, and the neat, tidy back streets of the wealthier area had given way to the broken down dilapidation of the alleys around The Grindle. Rain gushed off of the roofs in grimy torrents, and discarded rubbish made the ground like a marsh, clinging and stubborn. Here the gloom darkened, going from shades of grey to charcoal, and Ed had to slow down or fall flat on his face.
It was as quiet as a grave. No animals stirred the tattered boxes, their sodden walls folding beneath the weight of the water. There were no vagrants or down-and-outs. It was like a ghost-town of the lowest existence. Ed was reminded of when he had led Roy through this mess the first time. Back then the place had, once again, been deserted, and all the more ominous for its emptiness. The only sound was the drip and trickle of water, and the solid, determined march of their boots as they picked their way over the uneven ground.
He did not see the bundle of rags until he was almost on top of it. One second he was staring fixedly ahead, concentrating on simply getting through and out the other side. The next, the alchemy in his veins twanged like a harp string, resonating with alien power that hummed threateningly through his body in a feral snarl of hate.
Shadow and silver darted across his vision, and a line of pain crossed his cheek before he could jump back. He shouted out a warning to the others, backing up so that they were forced to stop moving and do the same. The creature, a woman, snarled throatily, her eyes only faintly clouded with death. Her rank smell had been hidden by the general odour of the alleys, but the decay had barely set in on this corpse before Carmine brought it back to life. It moved with more grace than most, flicking the blade back and forth, cutting and slicing at Ed's skin as quickly as he could heal.
With a snarl, he reached out to the boiling, seething pit of power in the creature's core. No array charted itself across his mind and there was no need to clap his hands. He could sense the web of Carmine's alchemy, could see the weaknesses created by her panic and haste, and it was a matter of thought to snatch at the threads with his own power and pull.
The power holding the corpse together surged into him, unfurling tendrils through his body and clutching him close to its suffocating darkness. A massive weight slammed into his shoulders, and he barely registered Roy and Al's cries of alarm as he slumped against the wall, struggling to draw breath. For once he was not choking or spluttering. Instead it felt as if his ribs were being crushed, broken into sharp splinters and ground into dust with every breath he attempted.
A vile scent filled his nose: hot, sweaty rot mingling with moist earth, and a cold, clammy sweat drenched his skin. His eyes were useless, seeing nothing but the vaguest of shapes shifting in the gloom. Every muscle was unresponsive, and he could not even twitch a finger, let alone clap to try and dispel the taint of Carmine's energy.
Death, Kaleo whispered, his voice tight with disgust and fear. It is all that feeds her and the gate within her. It is all that she is, and you invited it in.
Hot hands brushed across Ed's brow, and he struggled to reach for that warmth, but it was too distant. He knew that there was not time for this; the others needed him. There were probably more undead lurking in the alleys waiting for their moment to strike, but, even as he tried to will himself to activity, he could feel himself sinking further away from the world.
'Ed, open your eyes. Come on, please!' Roy's voice was tinged with desperation, and he thought he he felt the press of a pair of fingers at his throat, checking his pulse. Dimly, Ed heard Hawkeye snap an order to the others, and the click of the safety on her pistol being released was strangely loud.
He had to get away from the stain of Carmine's power, but every time he tried to tear himself away it curled him tighter in its grasp. Pouring through his body and mind, the shadows pooled around Kaleo's presence and pushed through to where the gate was caged. Pain bloomed, and Ed spluttered, gasping and blinking frantically. His pulse was like gunfire in his ears, coming in short, unsteady bursts as the alien energy plunged itself into the heart of the fragment of the gate that hid within him, turning its light pearly grey.
When it spoke, the voice was different, but far too familiar to Ed's ears. The words that rang in his mind were spoken by the gate as he had known it when he had tried to bring back his mother. It was the same cold, hateful tone that had murmured to him when he had pulled Al back from its grasp. That voice made him feel like a child again: alone, small and insignificant.
This is what you must face, it murmured, echoing through the vault of his head. After you have beaten back the woman and rebuilt that which contains us, as your life slips through your fingers and your last breaths catch in your throat, we are what you must fight. To try and contain us within the gate you build will only begin this vicious cycle once more. You do not attempt to recreate what once was. You are taking on the task that no man can achieve. You are attempting to bring a true gate into being – one above and beyond your petty humanity.
Invisible fingers clutched around Ed's heart, squeezing hard, turning his blood sluggish and thick in his veins. Instinctively Ed reached out mentally for his own alchemy, sending it whipping through his body towards the threat at its core. It was not black like Carmine's or white like that of Kaleo and his part of the gate. Instead it was a comforting, familiar blue that made Ed long for the time when his power was something he fully understood. Even now it was strange to him, a screaming, shattering surge of energy that was stronger than anything he had ever experienced.
You will fail.
Its clutching grasp slipped away, recoiling as the gate's last words echoed in his mind. Carmine's shadowy energy was absorbed, drowned out in a sea of diamond-white light. Sensation returned, and rain bit into his cheek as the wind teased his hair free of its braid. Opening his eyes, Ed realised that he was slumped against the wall of the alley, held up by Roy's hands pressed to his shoulders, pinning him to the damp brickwork. Water trickled down the back of his neck, making him wince and shudder in revulsion as he hastily glanced around.
The corpse he had pulled the alchemy from was lying motionless on the floor, slack-jawed and unmistakably dead. The blade gleamed in the dull light, but it only held Ed's attention for a moment before he noticed what lay ahead. More than a dozen other bodies blocked the way out, fanned out and ready to attack. They each held a knife, and Ed knew that if they had been armed with guns then every one under Roy's command would already be dead. In these narrow alleys it would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Hawkeye and Havoc both stood braced between Ed and the creatures. Their guns were in their hands, muzzles unwavering as they aimed down the narrow channel towards their target, but neither of them fired. As soon as the first shot went off, the rag-tag army would begin their charge. At most a bullet would slow them down; it was a waste of precious ammunition. The firearms were an empty threat, but it seemed that some element of survival instinct remained in the decaying bodies of Carmine's soldiers. They did not attack, but hovered uncertainly like men awaiting their orders.
Gently Ed lifted his hands, wrapping his fingers around Roy's wrists and looking him unflinchingly in the eye. His dark gaze searched his face for a moment, but he seemed satisfied that it was still Ed, rather than the gate, occupying the body in his grasp. 'I can't burn them, ' Roy said, nodding his head towards the zombies. 'There isn't enough space. The flame might destroy them, but it'll get us as well.'
'We need to run,' Ed stated, glancing back the way they had come. The others stood, pale-faced and on-edge. Every single one of them was ready for a fight. Even Winry had a wrench in her hand, and Ed had been on the receiving end of her blows too many times to underestimate her. Still, this wasn't the time to stand their ground.
'It's easy to lose your way in this part of town. We'd be like rats in a maze.'
'Better to be lost and alive, isn't it?' Ed murmured as his mind raced, thinking of the twisting layout of the alleys as he tried to plan an escape route. 'Besides, if we split up so will they. It'll be easier to pick them off a few at a time than face off against all of them here and now.'
He hesitated, feeling the surge of adrenaline pumping through his veins as he looked over the others, seeing them through Carmine's eyes. They were fragile and weak, little more than an inconvenience. It would be too easy to wipe their lives away, and he could not let her do that. 'I need to do something to protect the others from alchemical attack,' he said firmly. 'Carmine won't hesitate to hold someone hostage if she thinks it will give her an advantage. I need to do something to make that more trouble than it's worth. Besides, we need to use our alchemy without worrying about catching anyone in our crossfire.'
'You've got an idea?'
Ed nodded, quick and sure. 'You won't like it, and we don't have time for me to explain. You're going to have to trust that I know what I'm doing.'
One of the dead soldiers moved, shifting its weight forward as a low, rumbling growl arose from its lifeless throat. Hawkeye squared her shoulders and glanced back towards them. 'Sir, we're running out of time.'
Roy stared at Ed, his eyes questioning and confused. All of his masks were gone, shorn away by urgency, and Ed could see every flicker of emotion as clear as day: protectiveness, uncertainty, fear and determination danced over his features. Roy would always be the commanding officer, but this time he did not have enough understanding of what was happening to maintain control of the situation and succeed. He had to let Ed lead the way with the strategy, and he knew it. Finally, he nodded, letting Ed support his own weight as he stepped back.
'This is what you're going to do,' Ed said, his voice just loud enough to reach everyone but low enough to be beyond the hearing of Carmine's thugs. 'Run back the way we came. Split up, but make sure you have at least one alchemist with you, even if it's just one of the Tringhams.' Russell's snort of disbelief and irritation was loud in the alley, but Ed ignored it as he continued. 'Take any way through the alleys you can think of that might get you closer to Rider's.' He hesitated, biting his lip as he crouched towards the floor. 'Don't look back. Don't turn around. Just run.'
'What about you?' Russell's question was almost a challenge, and Ed shot him a dark look in the gloom.
'I'll be right behind you. Don't think about fighting these things; concentrate on staying alive and getting out of here. Understand?' There was no way he could miss the fact that half of Roy's men glanced in their commander's direction, as if double-checking their orders, and Ed smothered a faint smile. He did not blame them. After all, if positions were reversed and it was someone else telling him what to do, he'd be making sure that the order really was to turn tail and flee rather than stand and fight.
'Do it,' Roy said, his tone dark and serious as his intense gaze flickered back to the shambling creatures that blocked their way.
Go!' Ed's barked order was punctuated by the sharp clap of his hands, and he slammed them into the ground twice in quick succession. The first wave shot after the others, cloaking them in a haze of light that hid them from view. He heard one or two cries of pain and thought a silent apology. He knew it would hurt, but it was a small injury in comparison to what Carmine might do to them. When it came down to it, it was the only way he could think of to keep them safe.
His second attack arced towards the dead soldiers, darting over filth and crawling along the walls as they broke into shambling pursuit. It would not pull their power into him. He had made that mistake once and would not do so again. Carmine's alchemy was not fuel for his; it was poison. All he was doing was filling them to the brim, creating a massive surge in strength that would rip them apart.
Slowly, like bags splitting at the seams, the dead soldiers began to fall apart. Bodies fell, tripping those few creatures that managed to escape the blast and giving Ed the few seconds he needed to dart away, putting as much distance between himself and his pursuers as possible. His sprinting footsteps ate up the distance as he darted down one side-alley after another, keeping his ears open for the sounds of the others. They were there. He could hear faint shouts, and the occasional flash of a transmutation lit the sky as they came across a lone undead.
The path he had taken opened out into a small square, grim and bleak. Puddles collected in potholes in the uncared for paving, and boarded up windows stared out across the space like blind eyes. An old statue, covered in graffiti and shattered beyond recognition, stood in the centre, and Ed gave it a cursory glance as he kept his back to the wall, creeping around its looming presence as he searched for a defensible position.
Finally, he found a small dead-end and stopped, trying desperately to think as he looked around for any signs of pursuit or attack. It was completely quiet, and the steady drumming of the rain only served to define the silence. No one could creep up on him from behind, but he knew he was still far from safe. He needed some kind of a plan. Any advantage, even if it was only a second, was better than nothing.
He did not take his eyes off of his surroundings as he carefully considered his options. Alchemy sung in his ears and thudded through his veins. He felt like those creatures he had destroyed, full to capacity and almost bursting with every breath he took.
Every mouthful of air was tinted with the taste of wild energy. It permeated his thoughts, enriching them with the spark and burn of its strength. He had always understood alchemy better than most, but now it was as natural to him as living. It was so much a part of him that he did not need to see or touch it. He simply knew that it was there, and he could feel the flux and change all around him.
Carmine's assault on Rider's should have exhausted him, draining away his energy as the arrays activated themselves, but instead he was stronger than ever. It felt endless, bottomless, like a spring of eternal life bubbling up in his core, but he knew that it would not be enough to fight and rebuild the gate. He would still need to take power from other sources, and there were not many options open to him.
Closing his eyes with a sigh, he pushed the thought away. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it. At least he could take comfort in the fact that protecting the others would cost him very little in terms of strength. When the haze of light had enveloped them it had carved a small, simple array on the back of their hands. It was shallow enough to heal without leaving a mark. After all, it only had to last for one day. Once activated, the arrays would deflect and neutralise any form of alchemical attack that struck, turning it into harmless free energy such as light or sound. He only hoped that the protection lasted long enough. If they were hit one time too many, or by a big enough assault, then the tiny designs would be overwhelmed and they would be rendered useless.
He toyed with the idea of etching one on his own skin, but he was not sure how it would react with the gate. The other alchemists would be all right because they relied on some form of drawn array, either on their gloves, like Roy and Al, or by drawing them on the ground. They gave their power shape and form. Ed knew that his alchemy was far more nebulous, and he did not dare risk muting it at the time he would need it most.
A movement out of the corner of Ed's eye made him freeze, pulling back into the shadows as he watched the dark shapes stumble into the square. The two corpses were arguing, gesturing mutely in their fury as they communicated in a way Ed could not hear.
More shadows emerged. Some stumbled on limbs that could hardly hold their weight while others marched along, as sure and steady as if they had just left the military compound. He narrowed his eyes as he recognised several. They had been blocking the alley and, the last time he had checked, had been lying in bits as a result of his attack. How had they put themselves back together?
As he watched, a web of shadow crackled over their skin, flowing out like a dark spider web. Carmine had engineered them to regenerate, and he hissed a vicious curse. The only one who had not reappeared was the one that he had forcefully dragged the alchemy from, and he did not dare do that again. Taking in what had been contained in one corpse had been almost enough to overcome him. If he did it for all of them there would not be any of him left to fight.
Even if he did survive, even if his mind, body and soul remained intact from the toxic stain of Carmine's power, he would still be weak and helpless. It could be the only advantage Carmine needed. She was the kind of alchemist who would leap on any signs of weakness like a cat on an injured bird, and he did not dare risk leaving himself open to attack.
As if hearing his fears, another sodium-edged bolt of light ignited the sky, and he felt the surge of the assault on his defences like a gust of wind tearing through him. Ed would have thought Carmine would be furious and losing control, but instead she seemed to be single-minded, as if she were utterly determined to break through the doors of Rider's and snatch at the souls inside.
Ed swore again, shifting in his hiding place as he stared around the other alley-mouths that opened onto this place, looking for a way out. A glimpse of something white made him hesitate, and he narrowed his eyes when he saw Roy, Hughes and Hawkeye on the other side of the square.
He saw the moment when Roy decided to attack - felt the change in the air as he clicked and the spark became a flame, turning the rain to steam as it bloomed through the air. In a split second Ed clapped his hands, letting energy spill out into the atmosphere, feeding the flame until it was hotter, brighter, bigger. It sent smoke signals into the sky as it caught the zombies in its white-hot heart, turning them into flakes of ash and bone before they could respond.
The fire turned sullen crimson before it wilted, curling in on itself and fading from sight, leaving flickering spots dancing across Ed's vision. That had worked better than he had expected. None of Carmine's creatures had escaped Roy's augmented attack, and there was no way they could pull themselves back together. Already the rain turned their sad remains to grimy mud and drowned their dust in torrents.
Cautiously, still not sure that there were not more dead soldiers lingering just out of sight, Ed walked into the open. He crossed the shattered paving, automatically checking Roy over for signs of injury as he approached. There were no obvious bruises or cuts, but Ed still itched to reach out for him – to reassure himself through touch that his lover had not come to any harm.
'Are you all right?'
Ed smiled despite himself, giving a quick nod. 'They didn't get close to me, but tearing them apart them doesn't work. Fire's definitely the best way to make sure that they don't get up again.' He took in the three of them, wet and dishevelled but still whole. 'Did anyone get hurt?'
Hughes smiled at him, his gaze bright with curiosity in the darkness as he held up his right hand, showing Ed the array that had drawn itself in shallow wounds on his skin. 'The only thing that hurt us was this.' There was no accusation in his tone, but, in comparison Hawkeye's brown eyes were less than calm. Her jaw was set in a stubborn line, and her thumb still hovered over the safety of her gun threateningly.
Without a word Ed reached out and brushed his fingers to the periphery of the design first on Maes' hand and then, before she could pull away, Riza's. They both glowed softly in response as he explained what the arrays would do. 'They'll be gone in a week or two, if we survive that long.'
'So we're immune to alchemy?' Hughes asked, his voice bolstered by a fraction more confidence than it had held before.
'To some extent, but Carmine could still get through to you with a powerful enough attack. It's more to keep you safe from friendly fire.' He glanced at Roy, watching him tug his glove off and scrutinise the same array that charted its way over the back of his hand. 'It doesn't matter who gets them going. If I can't, can you make sure everyone else's are active? I don't want anyone to end up dead when they could have been kept safe.'
Roy looked up, something unreadable in his dark eyes. 'I don't want to be protected if it's going to hurt you.' He did not shift his gaze away from scrutinising Ed's features. 'You need all of your strength; are you sure can afford what these are going to cost you?'
'Positive,' Ed said softly, forcing his voice to be steady and confident. 'Besides, you're not defenceless. None of you are going to be stupid enough to stand in the line of fire. It's just in case the worst should happen.'
Finally, as if it hurt to do so, Roy nodded in understanding. His fingers brushed against the edge of the design, and it flared at his touch. Bold, confident lines of light charted their way over his skin.
An explosive sound boomed along the narrow alleyways, amplifying itself as it was released into the square. The puddles shivered in response as lightning thrashed overhead. The sky took on the flare and bite of bright power – a stern reminder of the time that was slipping away from them.
'This way!' Hawkeye set off without looking back, and he fell into a sprint behind her, trusting her instinct for direction. All the twists and turns of the alleys had left him disoriented, but Riza moved unfalteringly towards the glimmering signal-fire of Carmine's alchemy. Nothing lurched out at them from the dusky passageways to their left and right, and nothing barred off the way ahead. Their boot steps echoed back at them, strangely metallic in the enclosed space before the four of them burst out into the plaza that fronted the impressive residence.
Here the street-lamps were still lit, casting a mellow glow out into the false night. No light breached the thick clouds overhead, and nothing interrupted the rain's siege. There were no cars parked up on the road that swept past Rider's, and every window was dark and dead. Normally the place presented a welcoming appearance to the world, all warmth and hospitality, but now it looked as if it had been abandoned in a hurry. Had Sally done the sensible thing and fled when Carmine started her attack?
The massive front doors were scarred and scorched from one barrage after another, but they still stood firm and strong. Even the neat pearly steps that led up to the entrance were gouged and cracked, hinting at Carmine's fury. She had been eager to get inside, but why? Had she just wanted the energy that the souls within its walls contained, or did she know about the protection on this place? Was it her way of getting Ed exactly where she wanted him?
'Where is she?' Roy's whisper was dark and loathing, and his hand was already angled to snap at the slightest hint of a threat. 'She hasn't had time to run away.'
'No, she's here somewhere.' Ed narrowed his eyes and concentrated on the energy all around him. He could feel her taint like spilled ink on a page, and he shuddered visibly as the gate inside him hurled itself forward, tearing at him in its desperation to take control and attack. 'I can feel her.'
'Watch it!'
Breda's voice rang out across the square, and Ed snapped his head around as the darkness lining the walls took shape, stepping forward into the meek illumination the street lamps offered.
It glowed off of gold braid and turned the dusty blue of old uniforms into something richer and more threatening, casting slack faces into dappled light. The undead lined the walls in a solemn rank, staring with unblinking eyes as they shifted their weight. It was not an uneasy movement. It as a purposeful switch from passive to aggressive as senseless fingers clutched at knife handles, preparing to pounce.
'Shit,' Roy muttered, and Ed agreed with the sentiment. He had always known the odds would be stacked against them, but he had never thought it would be to this extent. There were civilians mixed in among the soldiers, their drab, tattered clothes smeared with earth and dripping with the rain water. Carmine had been raiding more than just the military cemeteries and, from the look of things she had been busy.
Clattering footsteps announced the arrival of Russell, Fletcher, Fuery and Falman. The four of them skidded to an ungainly halt to Ed's left, staring around at the amassed force in horror as Breda and Havoc edged closer, trailing behind the massive form of Major Armstrong. Only Al and Winry were missing, and Ed wasn't sure whether to be relieved or concerned. Had they been cornered somewhere in the alleys, or were they safer out of this?
One of the bodies stepped forward, separating itself from the shambolic line. It looked over them with a milky gaze, pupil and iris no more than suggestions of colour beneath the film of death in its eyes. The grimy stars on the creature's shoulder caught the light, and Ed grimaced. It had been a general once, but it was probably one of the older resurrections, half-dust and barely whole.
Its thin lips twitched into a chilling sneer, and Ed knew it was looking at them and underestimating their strength. All it saw was a few humans, flimsy and fragile, to be crushed underfoot. It was relying on the fact that the interlopers were outnumbered and out-gunned to seal victory. Perhaps it had been dead so long that it had forgotten how hard people would fight simply to stay alive or protect those they cared about.
With a high, hoarse noise the dead general raised his emaciated hand and dropped it in the universal symbol for “charge”. Behind him more than a hundred throats mimicked his scream of fury, a chilling war-cry in the silence of the city. They lunged forward, running forward in staggering, unpredictable steps, knives raised and ready to kill.
Armstrong roared a challenge, throwing himself at the advancing horde and lashing out with his bare hands, tearing them apart and pummelling them to pieces with every punch he threw. Roy snapped again and again, his clicks echoing alongside the rattle of gunfire from Hawkeye and Havoc. Flames wound through the air, gushing crimson and gold as they unfurled along the walls and gobbled up the attacking undead. Yet Ed could see that he was struggling to produce enough of a spark to ignite. His gloves were already saturated, and the rain was like a vertical river, rapidly drowning Central in its deluge.
Clapping his hands, Ed unleashed a wave of power into the air. Instantly the fires grew hotter and brighter, and Alex gave a triumphant shout as his attacks went from brutal to devastating, nourished by the extra energy. Russell and Fletcher were both drawing frantically, protected by Breda, Falman and Fuery, all armed and determined. With ever circle that was completed, trees and plants surged from the earth, cracking the stone as they curled upwards, grabbing the dead soldiers in their coils and crushing them in knots of solid wood.
Backing away, Ed narrowed his eyes against the rain as he searched the gaping alley-mouths and dark doorways for Carmine. He could feel her presence like a thorn in his mind, a permanent darkness amidst the bright flash and flare of the familiar alchemy all around him, but there was no sign of her. Had she somehow made it into Rider's, or was she waiting outside, biding her time until her creations were done with them?
A bolt of lightning seared the air above his head, crashing into the side of a nearby building with an ear-splitting roar. The thunder was not a growl but a scream as stonework cracked and timbers caught alight. Instantly Roy put it to use, and tendrils of flame curved around the statue of Eros that still stood proudly in the centre of the square, arrow pointed blindly into the storm clouds overhead. The bronze was thrown into hellish relief, and Carmine's long coat snapped in the gale like broken wings.
She stood between the statue's spread legs, her skin bleached-bone pale and her grey eyes darkened to something approaching black. She looked as dead as the creatures she had brought back from the grave, her veins tracing shadowy paths under translucent skin. Silvery hair was sodden with the rain, hanging like a veil.
He expected to feel something from Kaleo: recognition, pain, grief... something, but the emotions surging through him were all his own. His vision flickered, taking him back to that grim night when they had tried to bring his mother back. Shadows took on the shape of armour and books, and stone became floorboards – the backdrop for the vivid lines of the array and the thing that retched and shuddered in its centre, drenched in its own blood.
Ed closed his eyes with a shudder, shaking the memory aside as Kaleo's words whispered in his mind.
She is no more my mother than what you brought back to life. Perhaps there is a fragment of her left: a stray memory or feeling, but she is almost gone.
Carmine's painted lips were a splash of bloody colour in the blandness of her face, and they curved into a cruel, cold smile as she leapt down, her hands already crossing over her body as she summoned her power.
Ed lunged out of the way, twisting aside as an array flared across the ground. A bolt of heat tore through the air, surging over his shoulder and colliding with one of the houses that lined the square. Glass smashed into knife-like splinters as the bricks buckled, crumbling to dust beneath the onslaught. The wall slumped, dragging the house and its neighbours down in a cacophony of rubble.
A sharp sound of pain made Ed wince, but he did not look over his shoulder and check who had been hurt. He did not dare take his eyes off of Carmine's prowling figure. She move with arrogant confidence, every step placed with a dancer's care as she drew her hands down across her body, her alchemy igniting the air between her palms.
'Give up,' she whispered, her words filled with the voices of thousands of souls. 'Give up now, and I will spare them. Your friends, your family, your lover – they will all survive.'
'For a day,' Ed snarled in reply, 'if that. Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think I don't know what's happening? You tore the gate apart and now the energy it controlled is filling Amestris. Soon there'll be nothing left but ruins!'
'And you think I will let you put it back?' She smirked, her tongue darting out to taste the rain on her lips. 'You think I will let you destroy this shell of a body and imprison me behind those doors? You think I will relinquish my grasp on this world just because you say so?' The last word ended on a roar as the transmutation flashed, making the rain hiss and the air seethe with its fury.
Ed clapped instinctively, paying no attention to the array that flashed over the pavings. There was no rational train of logic, only the need to attack and defend, to protect and conquer. Carmine ducked to the side even as he dodged away from her assault, stepping out of range as her array twisted the ground into stony tendrils, reaching up to catch him in their grip.
'If you will not save them,' she called out over the rage of the storm, 'then I may as well put them out of their misery!'
The air pulsed, scattering the raindrops like spilt diamonds as the power unrolled, hot and deadly. Anything that got in its way simply dropped. The plants that Fletcher and Russell had created wilted, curling in on themselves as they were stripped of life, and the flames that leapt voraciously to Roy's every command were snuffed out. If it touched anything human they would not even have time to draw breath before their lives were pulled in, more fuel for the fraction of the gate that hid within the woman's slim form.
There was no time for questions or hesitation. Ed slammed his hands into the ground, pouring all of his desperation into the earth beneath his palms. This time the array was not drawn in light; it was melted into the stone, sure and stable. It carved a sweeping periphery around them, sketching an arena where he and Carmine were the gladiators. The circumference blazed within arm's reach of where Roy and Havoc stood, and symbols scrawled along the dividing line.
Inside the array the air turned hot and dry, baked by the force of Carmine's assault. As Ed watched the draining power collided with the edge of his design, making the symbols glow a sick, angry orange as it faded away, pulled harmlessly into the earth beneath their feet.
'Leave them out of this,' he hissed, glaring up at her through the dripping curtain of his hair, now almost completely loose from its braid. 'They're nothing to you. The outcome of this isn't down to them; it's down to me. I'm the one you've got to stop.'
Blue lines scratched over his automail arm, transmuting the familiar blade into being as he darted forward, relying on the strength and grace of his body to keep up with Carmine's darting defence. She jumped back again and again, ducking and diving as Ed slashed, determined to drive her into submission. More than once the blade sliced clean into her body, but the darting shadows always covered the wound, erasing it from sight as surely as the light healed every injury his own body incurred.
'You can't kill me,' she hissed, twisting to a safe distance and pulling a stave of stone from the ground with a flare of light. 'You can't destroy this body. She embraced what she released from the gate. You should do the same, rather than picking battles with what hides within you. Let it take control. Let me fight what I truly want to destroy.' She leapt, sending water splashing around her boots as her feet danced and weaved across the paving towards him, the heavy staff angled to jab and swipe.
Ed raised his arm, grunting as the staff slammed into steel, making the plates groan as he struggled to keep her at bay. With a twitch of her fingers the rocky pole took on a sharp edge, already angled towards his throat to slice through skin and vein. His shoulder screamed at the force of her inhuman strength, far greater than any woman could achieve, and he could feel the damn mist of sweat beading his skin as the rain washed over him.
'Brother!' Al's voice was as clear as a bell, riddled with fear and the first spark of hard, unshakable anger. Shifting his focus over Carmine shoulder, Ed caught a glimpse of his brother and Winry. Al was clapping again and again, fighting off the legions of undead as Winry crouched behind him, her face a picture of fierce intensity. Her hands were angled towards the meek light as she worked.
Looking back at Carmine, Ed gritted his teeth, forcing himself to keep fighting her. Killing her was not an option. As long as the gate was in her she would be unstoppable. All he could do try and buy some time.
'You're using her,' he snarled, slamming forward and gouging the blade across her stomach. A flutter of pain crossed her features, disturbingly human, but in an instant it was replaced with the fury of the gate.
'I gave her all she wanted: immortality, strength, power... .'
'All she wanted was her son. You never gave her what she asked for,' Ed yelled, feeling his alchemy spark and grow in answer to the flare of his anger. 'You lied again and again until she was so lost in her hope that she could not see that she would never get back what she wished for. How many people have stood in front of you and asked for the impossible How many people have offered everything they could give and got nothing in return?'
'I was not the only one who played games with the dreams of alchemists, or do you forget that which you lock away was equally to blame? If you hate this puppet then you must hate yourself; you are no better than she is. Your hope blinded you more than once. You asked how many stood before our doors? Hundreds, but very few returned to us more than once. All of them but you are dead, and you shall be joining their ranks soon enough.'
She lunged, snake quick and dagger sharp as the staff sliced between his ribs. He felt the spurt of blood as his knees gave out, smacking into the wrecked ground. The butt of the handle slammed between his shoulder-blades and he spread his palms to break his fall as he panted at the uncaring earth. The flare of heat as Kaleo used the gate's power surged through him, knitting together flesh and muscle as Ed propped up his weight on shaking arms.
'You're getting tired,' Carmine purred, her eyes gleaming in triumph as she kicked him in the side, forcing him to roll over onto his back. 'So frail. So human. I admit that it was brave of you to try and defy both halves of the gate, but you cannot hope to beat us both.'
'Ed!' Winry was running towards the array, her arm pulled back to throw. A speck of gold glimmered through the air and bounced off of the cobbles, chiming musically as it bounced and rolled to a halt not far away. Ed closed his eyes for a second, allowing a glimmer of a grin to cross his lips. 'You're underestimating us. Me and her.' He gestured to Carmine's body and saw the hesitation on her face. 'What would happen if she knew that her son was in me – that it was Kaleo who was stopping me from being consumed by the light that escaped you? What would happen if she knew that you planned to take him away from her all over again?'
The sharp tip of the staff wavered, and it was all the opportunity Ed needed. He snapped his legs out, kicking her in the back of the knee and rolling out of the way as she fell, her feet knocked out from under her. His flesh fingers closed clumsily over the ring he had given Winry to work on, and he knew he did not have time to check the arrays he had asked her to engrave on its inner surface.
Carmine's face darkened as she got to her feet, her chest heaving with each panting breath as she glared at him. Her fury was obvious, and a faint tinge of shame flushed her cheeks. Casting the spear aside, she let out a hoarse cry, her bootsteps clattering across the ground as she ran forward. Her hands slammed together, her movements graceless with rage.
The false darkness seemed to shift, swirling like fog as her alchemy blazed, violet-edged and painful to look at. The shadows took on a suggestion of eyes, and Ed flinched as a thin, wavering hand brushed past his face. He could smell the gate, could sense its loathing and feel the looming presence at his back as the light inside him clamoured and snarled, burning its way up through his skin.
He was shaking and desperate as he shoved the ring it onto the middle finger of his left hand, clapping even as his mind filled from one edge to the other with something too massive to contain. It felt like wings unfurling through his skull, but their touch was not feather-light. It was oppressive and dank, pushing him down and away from the world. He could feel Kaleo's terror mingling with his own, making every breath raw with despair.
Viciously Ed fought back, forcing himself to feel the rush of air between his lips and the slap of each raindrop on his skin. The ground was hard and firm beneath him, his clothes running slick with water as he knelt, hands steepled in front of his face as if in prayer. He could still hear the roar of Roy's flame and the sounds of battle. Hawkeye shouted an order and Hughes called out a warning, urging Russell and Fletcher back from the fringes of the fight.
This was for them – all of them, and he would not give up before he had even begun.
Alchemy punched through the darkness, burning around his hands and catching in the gold around his finger, igniting the arrays against his skin. He felt it slam out into the world, shaking the air with its might as it lanced towards Carmine, twining around the twin ring that she wore, anchoring itself to the arrays carved into its ancient surface, sure and sound.
Her choke of surprise was a palpable thing, and Ed opened his eyes to see her locked in place, her body arched and twisting as she fought to be free. All around her the shadows were frozen, flared outward like a crow's wings. The woman's jaw worked furiously, her teeth gritted tight against the pain that racked through her as she spluttered and struggled, trying to yank herself away from the clutches of his alchemy.
'What have you done?' she spat, staring at her right hand which was splayed in the air, her fingers spread as if she had struck a wall. He could see her fingertips flexing as she tested its strength, and the grimace on her face turned truly feral as she realised that whatever held her in its grasp was unbreakable.
'The priest who built the gate, who put you behind those doors, made the ring she wears. It was designed to stop the alchemy from demanding his life as part of the price for the gate's construction.' Ed blinked slowly, wearily, already marshalling his energy for what he knew had to come next. 'Carmine altered the arrays, but the core always remained. She linked other rings to the one she wears. This is one of them.' He gestured with his hand, watching the simple bland glow blue white with power. 'I reversed the link – made the arrays on this one dominant. You can't move because the original array on the ring Carmine wears have reactivated. They are protecting her from you, and without your puppet, you're powerless to stop me.'
'What-?'
The truth must have been written on his face, etched in firm lines of determination because Carmine's dark eyes widened in realisation. Her black lashes caught fragments of the rain as her lips parted in disbelief. Her voice hitched and caught in her throat, fighting to form itself into words as she panted, thrashing against the invisible bonds that held her in place.
Ed pressed his palms together, his heart stammering in his chest as he realised that it was probably for the last time. There was only one way forward, only one way to make this work, and it would take all he had to give and more. Illogical hope still thrashed in his chest, blind to the truth that sank through the rest of him like a lead weight: he would not be coming back.
Alchemy ignited within him, a bright, bitter bonfire of power that filled his veins with light and shone out through his skin. He dragged in a deep breath, ignoring the sob that caught in his throat as tears mingled with the rain on his face. He had to have faith. He had to believe that, somehow, he would survive this. If he did not then there was no way he could go through with it. He would sacrifice the world and all the people in it for a few more hours alive, a few more moments at Roy's side and in his arms, because he could not bring himself to admit that it was all over – that eighteen was as old as he would ever be.
The array pressed down through his mind, pressing on his fingertips and thrumming in his heart, sure and firm. Tilting his head back, he felt the cool touch of the rain on his forehead and heard the whisper of the wind in his ear. It had to be done. He had come this far, and he would not give up now. Like a final breath from between parched lips, his alchemy blossomed outward, and he knew that there was no going back.
All he could do was fight and hope that, in the end, he could beat the odds.
End of Chapter Twenty-Nine
To be Continued
Chapter List
Author’s notes: I can now definitely say that there will be another three chapters of Babylon. After that, the story should be done (with emphasise on the should ^_~).
B xxx
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