ISERLOHNN

The Saga Begins

Edward Elric was a little perturbed. He didn’t even have the chance to snag his usual morning cup of coffee because Lt. Ross intercepted him. She informed him Colonel Mustang needed to see him immediately and so Ed was forced to delay his morning brain jumpstart. Which meant he was in a really crappy mood when he walked into Mustang’s office.

“Okay, so where’s the fire?” Edward asked when he was barely inside the room.

Mustang raised a solitary eyebrow at him. “You care to repeat that?”

Edward went to Mustang’s desk, leaned over and their noses were just inches apart when he stated, “This had better be important.”

Mustang took the fiery look in Edward’s gold eyes as an invitation. He grabbed the young Alchemist by the shirtfront, pulled him in close and gave him a searing kiss. Edward was NOT in the mood and pushed him away roughly.

“Look, I thought you had a REAL reason-”

“I do,” Mustang said sharply cutting him off. “But it’ll have to wait until the rest of your team arrives.”

“Team?” queried Edward.

“Yes, Fullmetal. This time the assignment is more than you and Al can handle on your own.”

“Oh? What are we taking on? An army?”

“Just about,” Mustang said rising. “Kimbley is loose.”

“Shit,” muttered Edward.

Kimbley, the Crimson Alchemist, was a crazed lunatic who was at the battle of Ishbal. He blew up half the city and wasn’t always too careful about keeping his teammates out of the line of fire. He was jailed for being a psycho in general and for killing State soldiers in particular. He had the power to rearrange the molecular structure of anything he touched and turned said objects into bombs. He could also detonate things at range too, which is how he leveled half of Ishbal. He had a personal fascination with turning people into walking time bombs, something Edward had seen him do up close and personal. It was NOT pretty and just hearing Kimbley’s name made those awful memories come back in a raging flood.

“No wonder you want us to take some extra muscle along,” Edward said. “Where is he?”

“A remote city called Iserlohnn, which is just outside the borders of Amerstris,” the Colonel told him as he left his place from behind his desk to join Edward. “The only reason I know he’s there is because of a message I got from someone clever enough to get past his security.”

“An Alchemist,” Edward surmised.

Mustang nodded. “And not just any Alchemist. The granddaughter of my former Sensei.”

Edward’s eyes widened. Mustang had never told him anything about who had trained him in the art of Alchemy. Edward always thought the one who taught the Colonel was probably a lot like his own teacher Izumi. However, unlike Izumi, he or she probably had no problem with their student becoming a State Alchemist.

“Where is this message?”

“Here,” Mustang said.

He pulled from his pocket a gold disk that was about six inches in diameter and handed it to Edward. Etched into it was a complex array that Edward recognized as being a variant on the circle used for scrying. However, what made it special was at its center was a tiny red stone welded into it so perfectly that Edward would have missed it if the light hadn’t reflected off its crystalline surface.

“This is amazing,” Edward breathed as he handed the disk back to the Colonel. “It looks like a scrying array but there were some elements in there I’ve never seen before.”

“The best way to explain what this is would be to call it the Alchemist’s answer to a message in a bottle,” Mustang explained. “When the others get here I’ll be showing this to them but I know you’ve been doing research on investigational arrays so I assumed you would like a chance to see this working without any distractions.”

Edward smiled at him. “You’re right. I would.”

“I’ll have to activate it since it was keyed to me,” Mustang said as he placed the small disk down on his desk and charged it. From the tiny center stone a three dimensional image appeared hovering in the air about a foot above the disk. The image was of an exquisitely beautiful young women clad in a black tunic decorated heavily with colorful embroidery, plain dark harem pants, flat shoes and with her long hair adorned with beads and colored braids. Although she looked terrified, she was standing tall and commanding keeping her voice clear and calm when she spoke:

“Flame Alchemist, long ago in your youth you studied under my grandmother Obaba, the Solar Alchemist, and had promised her that if she was ever in need of your help you would return to Iserlohnn without question. That time has come. Kimbley, the one once known as the Crimson Alchemist, is holding Iserlohnn hostage. He intends to use my people to create a Philosopher’s Stone. Please help us! We are a peaceful people, we have no weapons and the only ones with the old knowledge are Grandmother and me. This is our darkest hour. Help us Flame Alchemist, you are our only hope…”

The final plea for help was punctuated by the young woman glancing around in horror as thought she had been discovered and then the image vanished in an eye blink.

“She asked for you and you’re sending us?” Edward accused more than asked.

“Ed, you know why I can’t just pick up and go, much as I want to,” Mustang stated. “Obaba is not going to like me sending another Alchemist in my place. However, I think she will find you and Al more than sufficiently skilled as well as interesting.”

“Interesting?”

“Well, you two aren’t exactly ordinary. To quote Hughes, you two are the freakiest of us Alchemy freaks.”

“Gee thanks,” Edward commented in a sarcastic tone.

Mustang casually embraced the young Alchemist saying, “Ordinary is boring. And you, dear Edward, are far from boring.”

Edward quickly forgave Mustang for the “freak” comment when the Colonel began nuzzling that sensitive seam on his shoulder where flesh and Auto-mail connected. Mustang slipped his hand deftly under Edward’s shirt and began caressing the hard muscles of the boy’s abdomen and chest. He stopped moving and began rubbing when he reached the pert tiny nipple. Edward moaned in pleasure, his leather pants beginning to get uncomfortably tight in the area between his thighs, and he had his wits about him enough to realize that if things went any farther they were bound to get caught.

“Stop,” Edward breathed forcefully separating himself from Mustang. “We can’t do this here. My team is en route, remember?”

“And if they are prompt that would give us a half hour,” Mustang informed him.

“You made me miss getting my morning coffee so you could have a quickie?”

“You were the one who pointed out my desk was just the right height to-“

“SHUT UP!”

Mustang laughed. Edward was turning beet red from a combination of embarrassment and anger. “Hopefully your team won’t get here early. You have a big problem to deal with right now,” Mustang teased.

“Thanks a lot you scum sucking cockbite!” Edward spat as he strode purposely to the sofa and sat down crossing his legs to hide the very noticeable bulge straining the leather of his pants. “Taking advantage of my hyperactive hormones is low, even for you.”

“It’ll go away…eventually.”

Edward’s glare could have melted steel. Mustang only snickered.

The fun ended quickly when the door opened and Alphonse followed by Tenshi and Dr. Ferguson came into the office.

When Al saw Edward sitting on the sofa looking like he was about to blow a gasket he asked his brother, “What are you arguing about this time?”

“Mustang is being a fucktard again” Edward remarked. “As usual.”

“Maybe coming early was not such a good idea,” Tenshi suggested with a nervous little giggle. “Maybe we should-”

“Stay, Tenshi,” Edward said a little more sharply than he intended.

Tenshi’s huge eyes got even huger but he did as he was told.

The only word that could be used to describe the Lightning Alchemist was adorable. Tenshi was less than five feet tall and barely a hundred pounds soaking wet with big lilac eyes and white shaggy bangs with long brown hair in the front and very short almost shaved hair on the back of his head. Anyone seeing Tenshi instantly thought the Asian Alchemist was a young girl who had barely hit puberty. However, in reality, Tenshi was older than Edward by five years and was all boy beneath the long black gloves that reached almost to his shoulders and the soft baggy clothes. He dressed to cover himself for the same reason Edward did – like Edward, Tenshi also had Auto-mail limbs. Both his arms and legs were metal, the result of a devastating train accident that nearly killed him when he was ten. Etched into the palms of both his Auto-mail hands was his unique Alchemy array featuring the symbols for water, wind, lightning, thunder and cold. Tenshi commanded all the elements associated with weather and had the power to change the weather around him to suit his needs. He was called the Lightning Alchemist because it was this weather phenomenon he utilized to its most deadly effect. He passed his State Alchemist exam with ease when he turned a sunny day into a hurricane nearly leveling ten city blocks in the process. No one looking at his diminutive form would ever suspect he was such a powerhouse. Also, the fact he was often mistaken for a girl was played for maximum benefit in the field. His ability to pass for either a girl or a child had allowed him to go places and do things other State Alchemists could not.

Tenshi parked himself on the couch next to Edward and snuggled close to him asking, “Are you okay?”

“I’ll live,” Edward stated not in the mood to deal with the flirtatious Tenshi.

The little Alchemist made it known from the beginning he liked both Edward and Roy even going so far as to tantalize the Colonel with a very seductive lap dance one night when Mustang was stuck at the office working late. That was one dry cleaning bill the Colonel didn’t mind paying but Tenshi was just too much for him. He had his hands full trying to keep his affair with Edward a secret. No way would it be possible to hide TWO affairs, especially with someone who oozed catlike sensuality the way Tenshi did. Edward felt the same way. He liked Tenshi but it was hard enough slipping under Al’s radar to get in some alone time with Mustang. Trying to fit in alone time with Tenshi would be more than his schedule could bear. As much as they liked each other, all Edward could be to his Asian colleague was just good friend.

Tenshi leaned close to Edward and whispered in his ear, “I think you like two like to fight so much because of the fun you have making up later!”

Edward couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. Tenshi knew about him and the Colonel but had the decency to keep the secret to himself. It was hard for Edward to stay in a sour mood with someone as upbeat and cheerful as Tenshi cozying up next to him. As his body calmed, so did Edward’s mood. The moment he could rise from the sofa without embarrassing himself he got up and approached the Colonel.

“Care to show my team that disk from Iserlohnn?” Edward prompted.

MORE TO COME...I promise!