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Descent	By : ZaKai Category: Fullmetal Alchemist > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 14665 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
Descent

Chapter Seventeen

The Meeting

Winry gazed around the room in apprehension as the crowd
began yelling and shouting at each other.�
The man from The People�s Government had made many good points during
his speech, but when it came down to the wire, whether or not Rizembool would
join with the new rebel government, well�

Her eyes fell on Alphonse, who had sat quietly through the
whole meeting.� Not that he would act
like those other rabble-rousers, but he was still injured and she had a feeling
there were going to be quite a few fights after the assembly convened.

�My friends!� My friends!� the man, whose name was Roland,(1) yelled.� �Please
listen to me!� I know this type of a
decision doesn�t come lightly and of course we don�t expect you to declare
openly for us right away, but if you are for our cause, if you believe in
freedom and are against being oppressed by the blood thirsty military leaders
in Central, and I know you do, I see it in your eyes, hear it in your voices, please at least send us some
support.� Our soldiers need food,
clothes, shoes, anything you can spare.�

A young man, no older than twenty, stood up and yelled,
�I�ll do better than that!� I�ll go and
fight myself!�� A low buzz of murmuring
began to fill the room.� More hotheaded
young men stood and yelled their support while women buried their heads in
their hands and began crying.

Winry watched as the man, Roland, closed his eyes and
pressed his lips together.� She thought
he looked very emotional, but felt skeptical that any of it was actually
real.� After a moment the man opened his
eyes and raised his hands.�

�Friends!� he shouted, and the noise faded.� �Friends��
Roland said more softly.� �Thank
you.� You are doing a great thing.� It is people like you who will change this
country.� This land will be a place where
your children will be able to lead happy lives because of your courage.�

Roland paused and looked around the room.� �Now, I have one more matter of business to
bring up with you.� The People�s Army is
in desperate need of alchemists.� Is
there anyone among you who has a talent for alchemy?�

Winry frowned, noticing that he didn�t add �who was willing
to fight�, and slipped her hand into Al�s.�

The murmuring began again.�
Then someone yelled loudly, �Best alchemists �round here are them Elric
boys��

Many in the crowd nodded, and once again Winry felt glad
that they had taken a seat near the back.�
Her heart sank as she watched Roland�s eyes widened slightly and he
mouthed the word, �Elric�.

Here was a man who knew of the Fullmetal Alchemist.

A man near the front stood up and scanned the crowd.� �There�s Alphonse Elric right there.�� The man said and pointed in their
direction.� The people sitting close to
them turned to look.� The tall alchemist
grimaced slightly and a faint blush came to his cheeks. �It seemed as if he wanted to shrink in his
chair to get away from all the curious eyes.�
Winry wanted to take him in her arms and hold him, protect him from the
others.� The hand she was holding
tightened around hers and she squeezed it back gently to let Al know she was
there for him.

When her eyes returned to Roland she thought the man looked
eager, like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse, but thankfully he only nodded,
gave a few more remarks and turned the meeting over to the mayor who quickly
convened it.

�Let�s get out of here,� Winry whispered urgently to Al as
the people began getting out of their seats.�
Al quickly nodded his agreement.�
He held tightly to her hand as they made their way hurriedly out the
door.�

Over the din of the crowd, Winry could hear Roland calling,
�Alphonse!� Alphonse Elric!�� She didn�t want to talk to the man.� She didn�t want Al to talk to him.� What if
he talked Al into joining up with this People�s Army?� Winry didn�t know if she�d be able to handle
it.�

After leaving the town hall, the two of them began walking
quickly away from the building, but moments later they heard Roland calling to
them again.� Al looked down at her and
asked, �Walk faster?�� She grinned and
nodded.

Unfortunately, the other man was determined to speak to them
because a moment later he was at their side, panting from having to run to
catch up.

�Mr. Elric�please�.can I� just
have� one word with you?�

The sixteen-year old didn�t stop.� Instead he said, �I think you just had eleven
words with me,� then picked up his pace causing both Winry and Roland to start
jogging to keep up.�

�Just five minutes!�
Please!�� The other man sounded so
desperate that Winry almost felt bad for him.�
Al must have heard what she did, because a moment later he slowed, then
stopped.

You�re just too nice
Al... �Winry thought.

Al sighed, then said, �I�m not
interested.�

Roland chuckled, and wiped the sweat from his brow into his
light gray hair.� �I haven�t even said anything
yet.�

�Yes, but I already know what you�re going to ask.� I�m not interested in joining you.�

Winry grabbed onto Al�s arm with her free hand and stood
closer to him.� She just wanted the other
man to go away.� Go away and leave them
alone.�

�You aren�t, by chance, related to Edward Elric are you?� Roland
asked.

Al didn�t answer for moment, then
said, �Yeah, he�s my older brother.�

The other man blinked.�
�How� how many siblings do you have�?�

�There�s just the two of us.�

Roland blinked again, then eyed Al
up and down.� Clearing his throat, the
man said, �I�ve, uh� I�ve seen the Fullmetal and, uh� saw his brother too� you
just don�t seem� big� enough��

The other man trailed off as Al started laughing. ��Oh!�
Well, yeah...�� The tall alchemist
waved a hand vaguely. ��I was going
through this� armor phase...�� When the
man still didn�t look convinced, Al shrugged and said more seriously, �Look, I
don�t care whether you believe me or not.�
In fact, I�d prefer it if you didn�t believe me.�

The man seemed to think about it, nodded, then said, �You as
good as your brother?��

Al sighed and looked up into the darkening sky.� �Mister� My brother and I have different
talents.� He can do things I can�t, and I
can do things he can�t.�� The sandy
haired teen looked back at Roland.� �Good is a matter of opinion.�

The two men stood there staring at each other as the
crickets began to chirp.� The sounds of
the people from the town hall drifted toward them on a slight breeze and little
strands of hair tickled her face.

�We need you,� Roland said quietly.

Al looked toward the ground and kicked a pebble before
looking up and saying simply, �The State Alchemists.�

The other man�s lips pressed together and he nodded
once.�

The tall alchemist closed his eyes and swallowed roughly, as
if his throat were dry.� Small creases
appeared on Al�s forehead and she felt him squeeze her hand again.� Holding back the urge to wrap her arms around
him, she squeezed his hand back.�

�I can�t.� I�m sorry,�
Al whispered.�

Winry could see the moisture forming at the corners of his
closed eyes.

�Because of your brother,� Roland said simply.� It wasn�t a question.

Al nodded.

�I see��

Roland moved his gaze down and looked at Winry.� His eyes softened and he whispered, �Yes� I
see very well.�

;-;-;-;-;-;-;

Vicky(2) leaned over and wiped down
the empty table in irritation.� The
customers who had occupied this table had been demanding and rude, and in the
end they had left her nothing for her trouble.�
But then, that wasn�t to be helped she supposed.� It was almost closing time and there usually
weren�t many people this time of night.

She looked over at her last two customers.� They were military men, but she wasn�t really
sure if they were important or not.� She
didn�t really pay much attention to ranks.�
They were all bastards.� These two
men had been talking for quite a while, but they had only ordered tea.�

Vicky sighed as she moved to the next table and pulled out
her washrag.� She was tired and really
wanted to go home.� The two soldiers
would no doubt leave her almost nothing for a tip, military men rarely
did.� They were all cheap.�

Cheap bastards.

She had dated a few men who were soldiers and all they
wanted was a good time at the cheapest price.�

Bastards all of them.

As she moved to the next table, the men�s conversation
became easy to hear and she listened idly as she cleaned the tables.

��and we�ve caught on to his little bug.� Tapping into the phone lines�the little shit.��

�Now, now, let�s not be hasty. �The worker bees only do what the queen bee
tells them to.�

�That son of a bitch upstart only wishes he were the queen
bee.� If we get rid of his little fucking
bugs then he won�t be able to tell them to do anything.�

�That won�t work.�
They�re drawn to him like moths to a flame.�

The first man snickered.�
�Moths to a flame.� Better to say, �moths to the Flame�, don�t you
think?�

�Indeed.� And if we
want the moths to scatter?�

Vicky looked over her shoulder and saw the first man
grin.� When he spoke, a chill ran through
her.

�We extinguish �the Flame�.�

;-;-;-;-;-;-;

�You do know this
is really irresponsible, don�t you?�

Roy
looked up from his stack of paperwork to where Ed was sitting on the other side
of the table.

�You do know how
ridiculous that sounds coming from you,
right?� Roy
countered.

�Are you saying I�m irresponsible?�

Instead of answering, Roy
leaned forward and checked the teen�s work.�
�You need the tops on the �M� to come to a point more.�

�Well, excuuuse
me.� I just fucking learned how to
sign your damn name today.��

Roy
grinned and scanned the next report.� He
should have thought of this sooner.

�Shouldn�t you be reading these?� Ed asked.� �I mean, what if there�s important
information or what if someone is requesting something that you shouldn�t
approve?�

Roy
scribbled his name at the bottom of the report and flopped
it in the �finished� pile.� �Trust me, Ed, Hakuro isn�t going to give me
anything of importance.� He just gave me
this big of a load right before the weekend because he�s an ass.�

The blond boy looked up and grinned.� �Who is the one always bitching at me about
my profanity?�

�There�s a difference,� Roy mumbled as he went over the next
report.�

�Yeah right.� What�s that?�

Roy
looked up.� �We�re not at work.� �

Ed blinked.�
�What?��

�Think about it.� When
have I ever told you not to swear when we weren�t at work?� Roy could almost see the gears in the other
alchemist�s brain turning.�

�Never I guess��

Roy
nodded, then started on the next report.� It had been a pretty good weekend so far,
well at least after all the drama on Friday night.� Except for Ed moping around for a few hours
on Saturday, that day had been good as well.�
In fact, it was the closest to the �old Ed� the teen had been since Roy had taken him home
with him.

There were a few things that bothered him though.� One was that he still didn�t know how Ed had
gotten Al�s body back.� This wasn�t
really his business, but he had an idea that it hadn�t been something
pleasant.� He thought it was obvious that
Ed hadn�t used the Philosopher�s Stone. After all, creating something like that
would take� well, a lot of people and
he was pretty sure he would have heard of something like that.

Another thing that bothered him was that although they had
talked about what had happened with Alphonse, Ed still hadn�t made any move to
contact his brother.�

�Ed, do you plan on calling Alphonse?�

The boy stared down at the report for a minute before
shaking his head.

�Why not?�

�I� I can�t.� I mean
not right now.� I will call him� eventually� I just can�t right now� I just need to
think about it.�

Roy
frowned.� �What do you need to think
about?�

Ed moved his gaze from the paper to Roy in frustration.� �Just things, okay?� I don�t
want you to push me.� Just leave it
alone.�

The dark haired man sighed, but nodded, then looked back
down at his papers.�

�And don�t forget you owe me for all of this help,� Ed
continued, still sounding irritable.�

Roy
flinched slightly.� Why in the world had
he agreed to do that?� He looked back up
and said, �Ed� You aren�t really serious are you?� I already told you I�m not a��

But the young alchemist cut him off.� �You promised.�

�But��

�Here I am, saving your lazy ass, been forging your name on
these documents for the last hour, and now you�re trying to go back on our
deal?�

�Yes.�

Ed�s eyes narrowed.

�I mean, no.� It�s
just that I think that someone else would be a better��

�You promised.�

�You�re going to be disappointed,� Roy mumbled.�
How did he get himself into these messes�?

---

1) Roland is an original character

2) Vicky is an original character.� She will not be seen again, she is only used
to as a way for the reader to catch the conversation.�

--

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