Iserlohnn - continued

THE WHITE-HAIRED MAN REVEALED

What the…?

One moment he was in his hospital bed talking to Mustang and the next he is standing by one of the stacks in Central Library. Alphonse is standing in front of him his metal hand holding something against the stack of books behind him.

The Iserlohnn disk.

Alphonse had used the Princess’s Array to Summon him to the Library. He must have seen the Summon configuration buried somewhere in that complex Array. But Edward hadn’t put his essence into that disk. How was it able to get him?

The mystery of how he got there would just have to wait. Standing behind Alphonse was making it so Edward could not see what was going on but he heard a voice that was all to frighteningly familiar.

The White-Haired Man.

Edward stepped out so he could see.

The White-Haired Man was hanging from the chandelier like it’s a rope and tucked under his arm was the unconscious body of Tenshi. Edward knew his friend must have put up a fight because the boy’s Auto-mail arm was lying on the floor a few feet away from where he stood. It had been cut off and Edward knew that without his arm Tenshi would be unable to do Alchemy. The ceiling above the White-Haired Man suddenly glows the light emerging from what looks like an Alchemical Array. Edward recognizes the configuration immediately.

A Portal.

No fucking way!

He transmutes his Auto-mail arm into a sword and using Alphonse as a springboard leaps up at the White-Haired Man. His attack connects with the arm holding Tenshi and the boy is dropped as the White-Haired Man turns to face his attacker.

Alphonse caught Tenshi before he hit the floor. He lay in the armored brother’s arms limp like a rag doll.

“You are an annoying little cockroach!” The White-Haired man declared hotly slashing at him with a hand that had six-inch razor sharp claws extending from the fingertips.

The strike barely missed Edward. The Fullmetal Alchemist’s move by had him land sword arm first into the ceiling. He was suspended high above the library floor hanging by his Auto-mail arm and he noticed where he had pinned himself.

In the heart of the Portal.

Perfect.

He pulled himself up enough to clap hands to complete his Alchemic circle and then touched the center of the Portal with his human hand. The Portal disintegrated with such force that it knocked both Edward and the White-Haired Man to the floor. The White Haired Man quickly got to his feet. He saw where Edward had fallen and was pleased to see his opponent was having difficulty getting to his feet. He walked over to Edward and straddled him placing one foot directly on the midsection of Edward’s back. With one foot pressing against his spine and both hands grabbing and pulling Edward’s arms by the wrists The White-Haired Man proceeded to try to rip Edward’s arms out by their sockets.

Edward screamed in agony. His human arm wasn’t being pulled as hard as his Auto-mail one was and he wished it were the other way around. The pressure exerted on his metallic limb was coming from an angle that the arm itself wouldn’t get detached unless the entire structure from the shoulder down gave way. He could feel the screws connecting the shoulder mounting to his body being pulled free from where they were attached to his bones. The one bolted into his collarbone popped loose and blood seeped from the opening it left in its wake. Edward thought he was going to pass out.

“Let my brother GO!”

Alphonse caught the White-Haired Man completely off-guard and his well-placed blow sent the White-Haired Man flying back into the stacks. Edward felt the familiar touch of those strong metal hands lifting him up and he gazed woozily at his brother.

“We got to get Tenshi out of here,” Edward breathed.

They both turned towards where Alphonse had left Tenshi and both brothers gasped in unison as they saw what had become of their friend. Tenshi was floating suspended in midair bathed in a sea of pure white light. Or at least it looks like Tenshi. The small body was wearing Tenshi’s uniform but Edward could barely see it because the form was tangled in a mass of swirling dark curly hair that almost reached to the floor. They looked up at the boy’s face and saw his lilac eyes had gone white and were glowing as brightly as the rest of him.

“The Divine Spirit has taken him over,” Alphonse told Edward. “We have to get out of here. It won’t know we’re on its side.”

Edward nodded and the brothers headed for the exit.

Before they were halfway there a blinding flash made Alphonse turn back. The White-Haired Man was gone and Tenshi was lying on the floor in a hairy heap. Edward slipped out of Alphones’s grasp and stumbled his way to his friend’s side. Tenshi’s eyes opened the moment he felt Edward’s hand touch his cheek.

“Is he…gone?” Tenshi asked.

“Yes, but for how long is anyone’s guess,” Edward stated.

“Al and I found out about the Divines. About the Key Holder and the Gate Keeper. All of it.”

Edward smiled. “Good job. Now lets get you out of here.”

Edward fetched the Auto-mail arm and then lifted and carried Tenshi in his arms like a child, the damaged arm resting in Tenshi’s lap. Tenshi rested his head against Edward’s shoulder closing his eyes. All of his energy had been drained and Tenshi felt like he could sleep for a week. He had never lost a limb in a fight before and seeing his Auto-mail arm cut off like it had been made of butter terrified Tenshi. Edward had told him his mechanic was the best in Amestris. Now he was about to find out if his Sempai was telling him the truth.

They got as far as the door before Alphonse took Tenshi away from Edward. Even though Edward would never say it he was glad Alphonse had decided to take over. His gut was on fire and he saw his bandages were starting to soak through with his blood. If he wasn’t careful he was going to kill himself. As much as he hated to admit it he did belong in that hospital bed. He leaned on Alphonse for support as they made their way back to the hospital.


Although Edward’s sudden disappearance had startled the Colonel, Mustang remembered seeing that effect before. Someone had Summoned Edward and he had a pretty good guess who it was.

Al.

He remembered the younger Elric brother had possession of the Iserlohnn disk and it seemed he figured out it had more uses than just a message carrier. He also knew Alphonse wouldn’t drag Edward out of his sickbed unless it was something important. Al had been researching about the Divine Virtues and Tenshi had been with him to help and so that the two of them could watch each other’s backs. Either Alphonse made a major discovery or they ran into a situation the two of them couldn’t deal with on their own. Either way Edward Elric was gone and so was his chance to get some alone time with him.

Mustang left Edward’s research where it lay and took the bag of what was left of the fast food and departed. He finished what was left of the food on his way back to his office. It was quiet in his department. Most everyone had called it a night and went home. Mustang walked into his office snapping on the light as he closed the door behind himself.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the White-Haired Man sitting behind his desk smiling at him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” the Colonel demanded closing the distance between them.

“You have no idea who I am do you?” the man said.

“Should I know you?” Mustang challenged.

“The name is Ares. Kenton Ares,” the man told him rising.

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Mustang remarked.

Kenton Ares laughed at him. “Maybe if you read books like that little roach you sent to fight me you would know who I am.”

“What do you want?”

“For now, I’ll take that disk the Princess sent you,” Kenton said. He extended a hand palm up to Mustang. “Hand it over.”

“I don’t have it.”

The fingers on the hand extended out to Mustang swiftly became five sharp sword like extensions that pierced through the Colonel’s body in five different places. Mustang gasped as he stood there staring at the needle-sharp talons that had gone completely through him with their bloody tips peeking out his back. The pain was just starting to register in his shocked brain when he snapped his fingers letting loose a blaze of Alchemic fire right into the face of his enemy.

The fire enveloped Kenton and the small of burning flesh made Mustang’s stomach churn. The claws in his body retracted and Mustang collapsed to his knees. He looked up and watched as the fire dissipated leaving a charred form standing by his equally charred desk chair.

The blackened body examined itself like it was a science project saying, “I always wondered what would happen if I caught on fire. Interesting.”

Mustang could do nothing more than stare open-mouthed in shock as Kenton literally shrugged off the blackened skin revealing he was completely unaffected by the attack. His clothing had been completely destroyed but his perfectly sculpted nude body was fine. He didn’t seem to care about his unclothed state as he casually walked over to Mustang and grabbed the wounded Colonel by the hair forcing him to look up.

“Like what you see?” Kenton taunted.

Kenton Ares was as handsome as he was evil. His silver hair reached almost to his knees and he was pale-skinned with a runner’s lean hard muscular physique. He tried to shove his groin into Mustang’s face but the Colonel broke free of his grasp and tried to blast him again with a ball of fire. Again the fire proved useless but the small time it took for Kenton to heal the damage gave Mustang the chance to use his own blood to sketch an array he thought would stop this creature.

As Mustang put his hand on the floor to charge the Array he had created Kenton stabbed at the gloved hand with one of his sword fingers pinning it to the floor by the palm. The Colonel ignored the pain and charged the Array. Kenton recognized what Mustang had drawn and roared in anger and frustration as he felt himself being hurled towards the one place he could not escape from without help.

The Gate.

The Colonel had remembered how to strand someone in that limbo like place that was the entrance to The Gate. He recalled that the Circle had to be drawn in the Alchemist’s blood and that there would be a price to pay for banishing someone in such a fashion. Equivalent exchange. And as the room went black he had a feeling what he had just sacrificed…
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MORE TO COME...stay tuned!