Graffiti Flower
Chapter 1: Empire of Dirt
"You wanted us, Colonel?"
A messy blonde boy stood before the Colonel's desk; his hands buried in his pockets of his pants. His brother stood noisily to the left of him.
"I have an assignment for you two."
Ed groaned as the cocky man smirked. Ed knew how this would happen; he'd be headed off to a goose chase after a criminal and get completely sidetracked and end up in another city. So that when he did finally make it back to HQ, there would be a new case. It was a tug-of-war; a huge cycle of only death and wasted time. Ed had become familiar with it. All too familiar.
"Recently,"
A broad voice erupted from the uniformed man. "There was an outbreak of a newly-discovered disease called Rust-Lung. We still don't know what causes it."
Edward couldn't help but scowl; he knew what was coming next.
"We have already evacuated most civilians; we just need any sort of resource from the water and so on."
Mustang sifted through several documents at once. He frantically searched them; eyes scanning them throughly. Riza; being loyal an responsible, handed him the paper he was looking for. Roy held it up for Ed and Al to see.
It was a small town; it resembled Resembool.
"This town is called Holt. I will be sending you there along with other soldiers."
"But; Colonel..." Alphonse banged around as he pleaded. "The disease is contagious; so what if we catch it?"
Roy shook his head; his loose hairs swaying with him.
"No. The bacteria would be dead; it's winter in that part of the country. It's too cold for them to survive. "
Edward was 17 now, with Alphonse being 16. They both knew they could handle themselves; but Ed couldn't help but feel that they were being pushed out of Central on purpose.
"Okay Colonel;" Ed pulled his mouth to the right and bit the inside of his cheek. "What's in it for us?" Edward continued to sift through papers on Roy's desk without permission.
A sudden swat to Ed's hand halted his search.
"How about you do what you're ordered to; and we'll decide that later." Ed frowned. He knew this would happen. He also knew he wouldn't be rewarded for his investigation either.
"Fine. We'll take the train."
"Hold on there, Fullmetal."
Roy halted them once again. "You'll be taking the cars with the soldiers I'm sending with you. You'll also take Hughes. Understood?"
Ed did. But he didnt agree with it. But what could he do? It was a direct order; and he was just a dog of the military.
"Yes, Sir."
Alphonse agreed.
"I don't get it."
Edward huffed angrily.
"Why do they send the alchemists? Especially us. Ugh." Ed pouted with his head resting in his hand.
Edward and Alphonse were seated in a small car; on their way to this town named "Holt".
"Maybe the other soldiers are busy?" Alphonse offered. Edward huffed again. Alphonse just figured he was being bitter as normal and dropped the subject. Only to bring up a more touchy one. "Brother? I wonder how Winry is...Don't you miss her?" Edward almost jumped out of his skin. Of course he missed her, he thought about Winry all the time; but he couldn't say that aloud. Ed had always had trouble relaying emotions. Especially when it came to his blonde mechanic who had half his heart. Edward always said he would never let himself fall; but he was never hard to catch.
"What? I do; I mean- not as much as you, right? Heh-heh." He chided pitifully and rubbed his neck.
The car suddenly halted to a stop as a bitter wind slipped through the window; snaking across Ed's bare arm. "I think this is it."
The town was caked in snow; nothing had been spared.
"What does Mustang expect us to find? Everything is dead."
Edward and his brother watched the soldiers pile out of the multiple cars; all being instructed by Maes Hughes. It was chaotic to say the least; but it was also kind of beautiful in its own way.
"Brother? Where do we start?"
The urgency in Al's voice was deserving of the view of the town. It was of massive size; multiple housing structures had collapsed due to the urgency of evacuation. Windows were shattered; doors kicked in.
"We'll start with the largest building and work our way down by size." Edward glanced to the sky-bordering building standing amongst the wreckage. It seemed to be the only tall building in the entire city; despite its size. "We'll start there."
"Brother?" Alphonse asked just as Ed began toward the building. "I don't like it here. It's creepy." His armor clamored as he shook around from fear.
"Don't worry about it; Mustang said the place was evacuated. We're just looking for some resources for a clue as to what started the disease." Edward assured him by just waving off the comment. He then continued into the center of town.
A loud clamor alarmed the Elric brothers and they came to a halt.
"Brother? You heard that too?" The noise was like something heavy had been thrown carelessly down a staircase.
"Yeah, I heard it." Ed removed his cold hands from the pockets of his now thick coat.
"Wha-what was it?"
"Let's find out."
Edward answered as he thoughtlessly ran into a crumbled piece of the city. Alphonse; being the level-headed brother called after Ed, but to no avail. Edward had forgotten about the lsnow; and especially the ice.
"Al! C'mon!" Edward called over his shoulder as he kept running.
Alphonse just kept to where he was; he knew what was about to happen. And just as he had thought, Edward slipped on a glassy piece of ice. He fell straight onto his butt with a yelp. Edward stood to his feet, but just as he did; he heard a rumbling sound.
"Brother!" A large compilation of snow was rushing off the roof of a nearby house; headed straight for Ed.
Alphonse ran for him; his heavy steel feet scraping and slipping on the black ice. He managed to cover his brother with his large body, but they also stumbled upon a small building.
"Brother? What if we looked inside this one first?"
Alphonse said as he helped his brother to his feet. The clamor sounded again; this time much closer. Edward nodded.
"I think that's where that noise is coming from."
The small home had been demolished. Almost every floor board had splintered away from eachother; each window blown out. It wasn't a pretty sight.
"What the hell happened here?"
Edward wondered aloud as he touched a frigid wall.
"Something tells me it was more than an epidemic..." Edward had no time to wonder; the same noise that had haunted them in the town earlier had appeared again; grazing across his ears teasingly. He gazed around the room; his eyes settling on a small staircase at the far end of the home.
"Al, up there." Edward pointed toward the stairs. The sound appeared again, and they both darted up the stairs. The upper level was just as distraught as the bottom, no windows or doors. Edward, however, found a suspiciously closed door that perked his intuition. Being the curious boy he was, he opened the door. Immediately he was greeted by a large glass shard that barely grazed his head.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
He screamed and ducked just as another inanimate object was hurled through the air toward him. Luckily, Alphonse was quick enough to protect his brother.
"Why are you here?!" A feminine voice startled the brothers. Edward stood from his ducking position and gaze over Al's shoulder. In the center of the room was a teenage girl. She had long blonde hair falling down her back, lilac eyes and a round face. She wore a longsleeved tan shirt that hung off one shoulder and a light grey mini skirt. A grey-blue jacket was strewn on the floor. She was wielding a chair.
"Well?!"
"Are you fucking nuts?!"
The girl swung the chair, but Edward was quick enough to catch it with his automail arm.
"Knock it off!!!!"
Edward transmuted the chair into a wooden spear and heaved it at the mystery girl. The spear grazed her shoulder, she yipped in pain but quickly found something to defend herself with. She readied herself while gripping her bloody shoulder. The girl dropped to her knees and ripped the spear from her shoulder with a shriek. She heaved the spear with all her might toward Edward, the wooden weapon jamming into the shoulder socket of Ed's automail. It fell limply to his side.
"Enough! My mechanic is gonna kill me!"
Edward charged toward her and pinned her onto the floor amongst the rubble. He held her arms above her head with his working arm and sat on her legs to prevent her escape.
"What the hell is with you?!" The girl scowled and attempted to lash at him.
"We're just trying to help you!" Alphonse stood above her and spoke in a comforting voice. Her eyes darted toward Edward's as he scanned her ivory face. She poured her eyes into his, her irises like dancing flames; licking the air. She sighed angrily and relaxed herself, Ed loosening his grip on her hands.
"Fine." He reluctantly released his grip on her arms and helped her up.
"We're not here to harm you." Alphonse picked up her grey jacket and handed it to her. The blonde slipped it on and huddled to herself in an attempt to keep warm.
"Sorry about that. I saw the soldiers arrive, I thought they were here to take me..." Ed shot Al a look. He had planned on just taking the girl to Central and just letting Mustang deal with her, but she was terrified of the military; what could they do?
"Oh, we're not with them. Just passing through."
"Brother-!" Edward shut his brother up with his attempt not to scare the strange girl. An unforgiving wind snaked through the shutters of the old house and whipped through the room.
"Why are you here?"
"I could ask you the same."
The blonde girl snapped, pulling her coat closer to herself. Edward snarled and turned away.
"We should probably get out of here..."
"What do you mean 'they're gone'?"
Colonel Mustang scolded Hughes through the phone. Hughes had let the brothers slip between his fingers and disappear; nowhere to be found.
"I'm sorry, Roy. I think they ran off somewhere. They usually don't leave without telling me, which is odd." Maes said as he stroked his chin with a pert brow.
"Just find them."
"Where are you taking me? I didn't ask to be rescued, you know." Edward an Al had escaped under the radar from the military swarm. They had brought along the mystery girl as well. She was shuffling beside Alphonse as Ed walked ahead. They were just reaching the outskirts of the city, where the cold and snow had seemed to die off.
"Yeah?! Well I didn't ask to be attacked by some random crazy girl! Okay!?"
Edward bellowed from over his shoulder. It was true. He hadn't. She had attacked out of sheer fear and self-defense. The fair-haired woman huffed and pulled her knee-length mane over her shoulder. She stroked her fair fingers through the thin strands, combing away any knots.
"Al, we could probably go back home...to Resembool..."
"Brother...are you sure?" Edward suddenly stopped walking and nodded.
"Yeah. Winry needs to fix my arm...again." She hung her head in shame. It was her fault it was broken. But again, she claimed self-defense. The blonde girl's head was teaming with questions. Who were these two? How did they find her? Why does he have a metal arm? Why is he wearing that armor? Who was Winry? Where was Resembool? So many questions went unanswered in those fleeting moments. But then again, the brothers had questions of their own.
"But we're all the way in Drachma, we won't be there any time soon. Ugh." Edward picked up his pace.
"So that means I can go free now, right?" She ran in front of Edward, striding backward. He roughly gripped her wrist with a smug grin.
"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere. You broke my arm, you're gonna face my mechanic. Besides," He released her hand and pointed behind his shoulder.
"You wouldn't want the military to get you, huh?"
Her happy demeanor quickly melted into a snarled face. She swallowed hard, feeling her saliva slide down her throat. The military couldn't catch her, they'd figure out what she was right away.
"You win this time, freak."
She pulled away from him and stepped back into tow with Alphonse.
"Why would you want to leave anyway? Where would you go?"
"I have my reasons." She practically sang from behind Ed. His flamel coat fluttered behind him.
"By the way, I don't know your name."
"Hayden Ryder."
Chapter 1: Empire of Dirt
"You wanted us, Colonel?"
A messy blonde boy stood before the Colonel's desk; his hands buried in his pockets of his pants. His brother stood noisily to the left of him.
"I have an assignment for you two."
Ed groaned as the cocky man smirked. Ed knew how this would happen; he'd be headed off to a goose chase after a criminal and get completely sidetracked and end up in another city. So that when he did finally make it back to HQ, there would be a new case. It was a tug-of-war; a huge cycle of only death and wasted time. Ed had become familiar with it. All too familiar.
"Recently,"
A broad voice erupted from the uniformed man. "There was an outbreak of a newly-discovered disease called Rust-Lung. We still don't know what causes it."
Edward couldn't help but scowl; he knew what was coming next.
"We have already evacuated most civilians; we just need any sort of resource from the water and so on."
Mustang sifted through several documents at once. He frantically searched them; eyes scanning them throughly. Riza; being loyal an responsible, handed him the paper he was looking for. Roy held it up for Ed and Al to see.
It was a small town; it resembled Resembool.
"This town is called Holt. I will be sending you there along with other soldiers."
"But; Colonel..." Alphonse banged around as he pleaded. "The disease is contagious; so what if we catch it?"
Roy shook his head; his loose hairs swaying with him.
"No. The bacteria would be dead; it's winter in that part of the country. It's too cold for them to survive. "
Edward was 17 now, with Alphonse being 16. They both knew they could handle themselves; but Ed couldn't help but feel that they were being pushed out of Central on purpose.
"Okay Colonel;" Ed pulled his mouth to the right and bit the inside of his cheek. "What's in it for us?" Edward continued to sift through papers on Roy's desk without permission.
A sudden swat to Ed's hand halted his search.
"How about you do what you're ordered to; and we'll decide that later." Ed frowned. He knew this would happen. He also knew he wouldn't be rewarded for his investigation either.
"Fine. We'll take the train."
"Hold on there, Fullmetal."
Roy halted them once again. "You'll be taking the cars with the soldiers I'm sending with you. You'll also take Hughes. Understood?"
Ed did. But he didnt agree with it. But what could he do? It was a direct order; and he was just a dog of the military.
"Yes, Sir."
Alphonse agreed.
"I don't get it."
Edward huffed angrily.
"Why do they send the alchemists? Especially us. Ugh." Ed pouted with his head resting in his hand.
Edward and Alphonse were seated in a small car; on their way to this town named "Holt".
"Maybe the other soldiers are busy?" Alphonse offered. Edward huffed again. Alphonse just figured he was being bitter as normal and dropped the subject. Only to bring up a more touchy one. "Brother? I wonder how Winry is...Don't you miss her?" Edward almost jumped out of his skin. Of course he missed her, he thought about Winry all the time; but he couldn't say that aloud. Ed had always had trouble relaying emotions. Especially when it came to his blonde mechanic who had half his heart. Edward always said he would never let himself fall; but he was never hard to catch.
"What? I do; I mean- not as much as you, right? Heh-heh." He chided pitifully and rubbed his neck.
The car suddenly halted to a stop as a bitter wind slipped through the window; snaking across Ed's bare arm. "I think this is it."
The town was caked in snow; nothing had been spared.
"What does Mustang expect us to find? Everything is dead."
Edward and his brother watched the soldiers pile out of the multiple cars; all being instructed by Maes Hughes. It was chaotic to say the least; but it was also kind of beautiful in its own way.
"Brother? Where do we start?"
The urgency in Al's voice was deserving of the view of the town. It was of massive size; multiple housing structures had collapsed due to the urgency of evacuation. Windows were shattered; doors kicked in.
"We'll start with the largest building and work our way down by size." Edward glanced to the sky-bordering building standing amongst the wreckage. It seemed to be the only tall building in the entire city; despite its size. "We'll start there."
"Brother?" Alphonse asked just as Ed began toward the building. "I don't like it here. It's creepy." His armor clamored as he shook around from fear.
"Don't worry about it; Mustang said the place was evacuated. We're just looking for some resources for a clue as to what started the disease." Edward assured him by just waving off the comment. He then continued into the center of town.
A loud clamor alarmed the Elric brothers and they came to a halt.
"Brother? You heard that too?" The noise was like something heavy had been thrown carelessly down a staircase.
"Yeah, I heard it." Ed removed his cold hands from the pockets of his now thick coat.
"Wha-what was it?"
"Let's find out."
Edward answered as he thoughtlessly ran into a crumbled piece of the city. Alphonse; being the level-headed brother called after Ed, but to no avail. Edward had forgotten about the lsnow; and especially the ice.
"Al! C'mon!" Edward called over his shoulder as he kept running.
Alphonse just kept to where he was; he knew what was about to happen. And just as he had thought, Edward slipped on a glassy piece of ice. He fell straight onto his butt with a yelp. Edward stood to his feet, but just as he did; he heard a rumbling sound.
"Brother!" A large compilation of snow was rushing off the roof of a nearby house; headed straight for Ed.
Alphonse ran for him; his heavy steel feet scraping and slipping on the black ice. He managed to cover his brother with his large body, but they also stumbled upon a small building.
"Brother? What if we looked inside this one first?"
Alphonse said as he helped his brother to his feet. The clamor sounded again; this time much closer. Edward nodded.
"I think that's where that noise is coming from."
The small home had been demolished. Almost every floor board had splintered away from eachother; each window blown out. It wasn't a pretty sight.
"What the hell happened here?"
Edward wondered aloud as he touched a frigid wall.
"Something tells me it was more than an epidemic..." Edward had no time to wonder; the same noise that had haunted them in the town earlier had appeared again; grazing across his ears teasingly. He gazed around the room; his eyes settling on a small staircase at the far end of the home.
"Al, up there." Edward pointed toward the stairs. The sound appeared again, and they both darted up the stairs. The upper level was just as distraught as the bottom, no windows or doors. Edward, however, found a suspiciously closed door that perked his intuition. Being the curious boy he was, he opened the door. Immediately he was greeted by a large glass shard that barely grazed his head.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
He screamed and ducked just as another inanimate object was hurled through the air toward him. Luckily, Alphonse was quick enough to protect his brother.
"Why are you here?!" A feminine voice startled the brothers. Edward stood from his ducking position and gaze over Al's shoulder. In the center of the room was a teenage girl. She had long blonde hair falling down her back, lilac eyes and a round face. She wore a longsleeved tan shirt that hung off one shoulder and a light grey mini skirt. A grey-blue jacket was strewn on the floor. She was wielding a chair.
"Well?!"
"Are you fucking nuts?!"
The girl swung the chair, but Edward was quick enough to catch it with his automail arm.
"Knock it off!!!!"
Edward transmuted the chair into a wooden spear and heaved it at the mystery girl. The spear grazed her shoulder, she yipped in pain but quickly found something to defend herself with. She readied herself while gripping her bloody shoulder. The girl dropped to her knees and ripped the spear from her shoulder with a shriek. She heaved the spear with all her might toward Edward, the wooden weapon jamming into the shoulder socket of Ed's automail. It fell limply to his side.
"Enough! My mechanic is gonna kill me!"
Edward charged toward her and pinned her onto the floor amongst the rubble. He held her arms above her head with his working arm and sat on her legs to prevent her escape.
"What the hell is with you?!" The girl scowled and attempted to lash at him.
"We're just trying to help you!" Alphonse stood above her and spoke in a comforting voice. Her eyes darted toward Edward's as he scanned her ivory face. She poured her eyes into his, her irises like dancing flames; licking the air. She sighed angrily and relaxed herself, Ed loosening his grip on her hands.
"Fine." He reluctantly released his grip on her arms and helped her up.
"We're not here to harm you." Alphonse picked up her grey jacket and handed it to her. The blonde slipped it on and huddled to herself in an attempt to keep warm.
"Sorry about that. I saw the soldiers arrive, I thought they were here to take me..." Ed shot Al a look. He had planned on just taking the girl to Central and just letting Mustang deal with her, but she was terrified of the military; what could they do?
"Oh, we're not with them. Just passing through."
"Brother-!" Edward shut his brother up with his attempt not to scare the strange girl. An unforgiving wind snaked through the shutters of the old house and whipped through the room.
"Why are you here?"
"I could ask you the same."
The blonde girl snapped, pulling her coat closer to herself. Edward snarled and turned away.
"We should probably get out of here..."
"What do you mean 'they're gone'?"
Colonel Mustang scolded Hughes through the phone. Hughes had let the brothers slip between his fingers and disappear; nowhere to be found.
"I'm sorry, Roy. I think they ran off somewhere. They usually don't leave without telling me, which is odd." Maes said as he stroked his chin with a pert brow.
"Just find them."
"Where are you taking me? I didn't ask to be rescued, you know." Edward an Al had escaped under the radar from the military swarm. They had brought along the mystery girl as well. She was shuffling beside Alphonse as Ed walked ahead. They were just reaching the outskirts of the city, where the cold and snow had seemed to die off.
"Yeah?! Well I didn't ask to be attacked by some random crazy girl! Okay!?"
Edward bellowed from over his shoulder. It was true. He hadn't. She had attacked out of sheer fear and self-defense. The fair-haired woman huffed and pulled her knee-length mane over her shoulder. She stroked her fair fingers through the thin strands, combing away any knots.
"Al, we could probably go back home...to Resembool..."
"Brother...are you sure?" Edward suddenly stopped walking and nodded.
"Yeah. Winry needs to fix my arm...again." She hung her head in shame. It was her fault it was broken. But again, she claimed self-defense. The blonde girl's head was teaming with questions. Who were these two? How did they find her? Why does he have a metal arm? Why is he wearing that armor? Who was Winry? Where was Resembool? So many questions went unanswered in those fleeting moments. But then again, the brothers had questions of their own.
"But we're all the way in Drachma, we won't be there any time soon. Ugh." Edward picked up his pace.
"So that means I can go free now, right?" She ran in front of Edward, striding backward. He roughly gripped her wrist with a smug grin.
"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere. You broke my arm, you're gonna face my mechanic. Besides," He released her hand and pointed behind his shoulder.
"You wouldn't want the military to get you, huh?"
Her happy demeanor quickly melted into a snarled face. She swallowed hard, feeling her saliva slide down her throat. The military couldn't catch her, they'd figure out what she was right away.
"You win this time, freak."
She pulled away from him and stepped back into tow with Alphonse.
"Why would you want to leave anyway? Where would you go?"
"I have my reasons." She practically sang from behind Ed. His flamel coat fluttered behind him.
"By the way, I don't know your name."
"Hayden Ryder."