Untitled FMA Darkfic
By Jaelle
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warning: Character death, angst,
DARK fic!
Pairings: Twisted Al/Winry
"But...
if the same thing happened to you, nii-san, I would do the same. That
follows the principle of equivalent trade, doesn’t it?"
“No! Revenge isn’t going to bring
anything back! You just have to live. Live, and be happy.”
- Alphonse and Edward Elric,
episode 15.
The
bodies of the two conspirators lay scattered in pieces around the room.
Blood coated the walls near where the first one had been virtually
exploded, and half the head of the second man appeared to be melded
into the ceiling. Their executioner stood and gazed at his work, before
slowly turning towards the door. He paused in surprise when he saw the
small figure standing outlined in the doorway. Golden hair glinted
around their shoulders, and for a moment it almost looked like...
"Why?" The voice was full of pain
and sorrow. "Why are you DOING this?"
The
larger figure shifted slightly. "It was necessary," he replied. "They
were planning on attacking one of the Ishvar settlement camps.
Thousands would have been killed. This was better."
An anguished cry, "It is NOT
better! You used Alchemy to kill!"
"Alchemy is a weapon, like any
other."
"That's NOT TRUE! An Alchemist
works for the good of all! YOU taught me that!"
The man shrugged, "Well."
The
small figure entered the room, gazing in horror at the gruesome sight.
The taller man moved slightly to block some of the view.
"You shouldn't come in here, you'll
get nightmares."
The smaller figure laughed
bitterly. "Too late to worry about that. I saw what you did back in
Central."
"Oh." There seemed to be nothing to
say to that. The larger man merely shrugged again and made as if to
move past.
"Stop!"
A silver watch flashed in the dim light. "I am a Nationally-Certified
State Alchemist, and I am placing you under arrest for murder!"
He
sighed. "You passed the exam then? Impressive. I'd congratulate you,
but you shouldn't have done that. Now we have to be enemies."
"We don't have to do this," a
thread of desperate pleading. "Stop. Please. Give yourself up. I don't want to have
to kill you!"
"You can't kill me," a gentle tone,
reassuring, calming, and surprisingly light. "Now stand aside."
"No! I won't let you murder any
more people!"
And
just like that, battle was joined. The two figures fought furiously,
exchanging blows rapidly. It was soon clear that the smaller figure was
deeply disadvantaged; the taller figure was faster, stronger and a much
better fighter. One last hard blow and it was all over, the smaller
figure slamming into the wall and crumpling to the floor. The taller
man strode over and reached down to snap the neck quickly, a merciful
death. Two hands shot out and grabbed his leg, and he had only a second
to be surprised before there was a strange red glow from the ring the
other person was wearing, and the lower half of his body exploded.
"... you got me..." he said, when
he'd recovered from his surprise.
The smaller figure crawled to him,
sobbing. "Al, Al!"
"Shhh..." Alphonse Elric reached
out an arm towards her. "It's alright Winry."
"Al,
you stupid!" Winry Rockbell snatched a wrench out of her jacket and
banged it down on his helmet, the noise echoing around the room. "You
stupid, stupid, STUPID, STUPID..." She hammered his helmet for a good
five minutes before tiring. "Why did you do this? All those people...
you killed all those people! WHY?" She broke down in tears.
"Awww... don't cry Winry," Al
levered himself up on his hands. "It's okay."
"IT IS NOT OKAY!!! You MURDERED
over FIFTY PEOPLE Al!"
"I had to," Al said calmly. "They
killed nii-san."
"Not all of them!" Winry shouted.
"They didn't all..."
"They were bad people Winry," Al
replied simply. "They had to die."
"They...
you..." Winry hit him with the wrench again. "You idiot! Do you really
think that this is what Ed would have wanted you to do? Do you think Ed
would be HAPPY that you did this? I kept hoping that eventually it
would be too much and he'd come back just to kick your ass for this!"
She hit him again. "Look at what you DID!!!"
"You're going to
hurt yourself," Al said, reaching out and grabbing her arm. Pulling it
close he examined the ring on her finger. "How did you get one of the
imperfect Philosopher's Stones?"
Winry tried to tug away but his
grip was unyielding. Finally she gave up trying. "Mustang gave it to
me."
"Ah," Al released her. "Is he how
you passed the test too?"
Winry
nodded. "He fixed it for me after I failed the practical again. I'm not
really any good at Alchemy. I can barely change a chicken into dinner."
She rubbed her arm where he'd grasped her. "Al, Mustang is waiting
outside with a squad to capture you if I fail." She reached over and
began to stroke the dents she'd made in Al's armour. "If you don't
surrender, they're going to execute you. They might do it anyway, but
he said that... that if you gave yourself up he'd try and help you. All
you have to do is stop. And then, we'll fix things somehow. And you can
come home." Tears dripped down her face again. "Please, just come home."
Al
seemed almost to smile at her. "There, there. It's alright Winry," he
stroked her hair and gathered her close with one arm, holding her
against the remains of his armour torso. "I promise, it's going to be
alright." His hand patted her back and then reached up to wrap around
her throat firmly. Winry froze at his touch.
"Al?"
With
his other hand he gently began to tug the imperfect Stone off her
finger. "I just need to borrow this for a little while. You don't mind,
do you?"
Winry's reply was cut off as his
grip tightened. She
clawed helplessly with her free hand at the steel fingers that were
cutting off her oxygen, her eyes wide with horror as Al continued to
speak.
"I really appreciate this. I have
some things that I have
to do, you see. You understand, don't you Winry? There are a lot of bad
people out there, and they have to die. It's very important. So I can't
get caught right now."
Winry's struggles were much weaker
now as
Al continued to remove the ring, being careful not to damage it. "Don't
worry, I'll look after it," he assured her. "It's just like when we
were kids and used to borrow each other's stuff all the time. I promise
I'll give it back when I'm finished. But there are so many bad people
out there Winry. So many bad, bad people. I have to stop them."
Stars were exploding in Winry's
vision as she began to slide into darkness.
The
ring came free. "There we go! Thanks Winry, you're a real friend. I
knew you'd understand." Al brought the ring close to his face, admiring
it. "Pretty. Hey Winry, I'll tell you what, I'll buy you a replacement!
That's okay, isn't it? A really good one. A diamond maybe? Because you
know, I did ask you to marry me when we were kids, so we could pretend
it was an engagement ring. Or would you rather have a sapphire? Winry?"
He glanced over at the unconcious
girl. "Winry?"
There was no response. He shook her
slightly. "Hey, Winry?"
Nothing.
Mentally shrugging, he released her limp body and reached backwards,
tilting up his helmet and carefully holding the Stone to his seal.
"Now... I'll just fix myself up with this. It was nice of you to bring
me the Stone. I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise, now that
nii-san's dead. And then..." He paused. "Hello?"
Silence.
"Hello? Is there someone else
there?"
Al
waited for a few moments and then went back to what he was doing. The
Stone glowed briefly and then he jerked, his helmet slamming back down
into place.
"I heard that! Who's there?"
Beside him, Winry began to stir,
coughing weakly.
"Shut up!" Al ordered her. "I'm
trying to listen to... there it is again! Who is that?"
Winry
lay still for a few minutes as Al levered himself to his elbows and
scanned the room. "I know you're out there!" He shouted. "Is that you
Mustang?"
Winry carefully crawled away, out
of his reach,
coughing and massaging her sore throat. Her eyes scanned the floor as
she moved, searching for something.
Al kept looking around the
room, trying to find the source of the noise that only he could hear.
After a few minutes, he reached back again. "Fine. Don't come out. I'll
fix myself and then I'll come and find YOU, whoever you are. And then
you'll be sorry you hid from me!"
Her breath caught as she spotted
the object of her search and reached for it.
Al lifted his helmet and reached
back to press the Stone against his seal.
Winry's wrench got there first.
Nii-san?
**
Closing Report: Case 364-A-GGG-14
Offence: Multiple homicides (see
attached files A-GGG)
Date Closed: 14th May 1920
Arresting Officer: State Alchemist
Winry Rockbell (The Golden Alchemist)
At
roughly 2.45 on the afternoon of the 14th of May, 1920, State Alchemist
Winry Rockbell engaged the criminal in combat, having discovered him in
the act of murder (see case file GGG). After a brief fight, during
which the criminal refused to surrender, Alchemist Rockbell was forced
to kill him in self-defence.
Alchemist Rockbell was treated
for several injuries at the scene, and was shortly thereafter certified
as being unable to continue in her duties, for reasons of health. She
was discharged from service with full honours, and an escort was
provided to return her home.
No official papers or belongings of
the criminal were recovered at the scene, and subsequent examination of
his body (see Coroners report 335-2) provided no clues as to his
identity. His remains were subsequently cremated (as required by
protocol), and the ashes buried without a marker in the Central City
Prison Cemetary.
Signature of filing officer:
Major-General Roy Mustang, 23rd
May, 1920.
*Jaelle
carefully takes her hands away from the keyboard and stares at the
sceen for a long moment, before turning around and fleeing, screaming,
into the night.*
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