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Time's Scar	By : RotSeele Category: Fullmetal Alchemist > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 828 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Time's Scar
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Eleven
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 15-Fifteen
- 16-Sixteen
- 17-Seventeen
- 18-Eighteen
- 19-Epilogue
- 1
- 2
- 3
Two
Water beat down on the tanned flesh of his back, his golden eyes focused on the drain, watching the swirl of crimson slowly become clear. He rested his forehead against his right arm as he braced himself against the shower tile, and closed his eyes. He’d almost lost the target today. Edward slowly opened his eyes to stare down at the tile beneath his feet. He hadn’t gotten cocky; he never did, not when he went in for a kill. A dozen possibilities coursed through his mind as quickly as an alchemy formula did. They’d stepped up security for certain. It’d taken longer for him to get close to his target, and when he’d managed to get within range, the military patrol had shown up two minutes before the patrol was due. He hadn’t had time for the subtle alchemy he normally used, so he went in fast and dirty.
He’d barely gotten out alive.
He shut the water off and stepped out of the shower, grabbing his towel and drying his hair before he wrapped the fluffy cloth around his waist. Edward moved out into his room and picked up his brown leather trench coat, frowning as his fingers slipped through several bullet holes on the right shoulder and sleeve.
“You’re lucky,” he told himself. “So damn lucky.”
A few more inches to the left and he’d be on a slab somewhere, being cut open to see how he ticked. Or why he looked like a certain pipsqueak alchemist that was running around the Eastern area currently. Never mind the fact he and that pipsqueak alchemist were one and the same. Or, more accurately, two different sides of the same coin. One side was just more bear up and scarred than the other. Either way, it wouldn’t make sense to the people who would’ve been examining his body. He dried off and pulled on his clothes, picking up that trench coat and pulling it on. He needed to get out of this hostel, move into the underground or into another hostel. He wished Greed were around; he could blend in easily with the chimera in that group. Unfortunately, the homunculus wasn’t around yet – he couldn’t remember if Greed had been killed by this point in time or if he had even been freed from his prison beneath Laboratory Five. Edward shook his head. Whatever. Greed wouldn’t help him, not even if Edward promised to truss up Envy for him. Besides, even if he did ask for help, he couldn’t accept it, not now. He was in too deep in this hell; he couldn’t bring down others with him, even those homunculi. Even if Envy was his brother.
He heard the heavy boots of the soldiers pounding up the hallway. Golden eyes looked to the door and he estimated he had about ten more minutes to escape. He looked at the trunk he’d brought with him; it only held his extra clothes, a toothbrush, and a few other odds and ends. They were unnecessary. Edward grabbed his silver pocket watch and broke for the window, clapping his hands together to form a bigger doorway. He knew there was a long drop on the other side of the window and quickly diverted his alchemic energy into creating a staircase that disintegrated behind him as he went down. He hit the street and pulled up the hood on his jacket, looking back up as he heard the door to his room crash open. He heard shouts, orders from a superior officer to his underlings, demanding they find the one who owned the trunk. There were shouts from the opening Edward had made, and knew he didn’t have long to make an escape before the military figured out a way to jump down or came down to the street the other way. He had to ditch the coat – it would give him away far more easily now than his old red coat ever would have.
Edward booked it down the alley, running lightly to keep his breath nice and even in case he had to run faster. He ditched the coat at the end of the alley and pulled his hair from its customary braid as he blended in with the crowd, disappearing into the sea of people on Central’s streets. He passed a few street stalls that had bolts of cloth for sale and found a good roll of black leather. With his right hand he grabbed the roll, regretting not paying for it, but he couldn’t allow anyone to see his face. He picked up his pace to find a secluded alley, spreading the roll out on the stones. He tied his hair back into its braid then, and took a moment to look around to make sure there weren’t any military personnel nearby. He closed his eyes, took a breath, reopened his eyes and then clapped his hands together.
Alchemical light blared as he pressed his palms to the roll of black leather, the fabric shaping itself into a hooded trench coat like his brown one. When the light faded, Edward had his new jacket, which he quickly pulled on and closed tight as he pulled up the hood, stepping back out into the streets of Central. He had to find a new base of operations, of sorts.
There were still a few more that had to die.
“I can’t believe we have to head to Central.” Edward complained to Alphonse. The blonde leaned his head against the window of the train, feeling it vibrate against his skin. “It’s like working in reverse.”
“Well… it could be worse, you know.” Alphonse said.
“Oh yeah? How?”
“The Colonel could’ve come with us, since it’s him that the higher-ups are hounding about this.”
Ed’s lips curled down into a frown and he leaned his head back from the glass, staring up at his little brother. “Yeah.”
It was no secret that Roy was the youngest man in military history to reach the rank of Colonel, and be a State Alchemist to boot. So because of that legendary status, Roy ended up getting most of the flak from the military brass when it came to murders of personnel and the like, and in turn, Edward caught the jobs Roy was just too lazy to get around to doing himself. Ed thought the saying was, ‘shit rolls downhill’. He didn’t like it.
"Why does Mustang put everything on us?" Ed complained. "What does he do while we're out slaving away for him?"
"He keeps the brass happy and off our backs?"
"Stop defending him. He doesn't deserve it."
Alphonse smiled at the defeatist tone in his brother's voice. "He only told us to look into it, you know. Just head to Central and examine the scenes. He didn't actually say how we could get to Central or from what direction."
Edward blew out a long sigh. "I hate it when he's sneaky like that." He rubbed the back of his neck. "No, we probably should get to Central as quick as we can. These alchemical murders are kind of intriguing. And, they're studying a form of alchemy that's all but impossible. Still, maybe this trans-locational alchemy is something we might be able to use."
"Use how?" Alphonse asked. "Do you think we can just transmute a Philosopher's Stone from wherever it might be hidden?"
"Of course." Ed grinned. "I mean, think about it. So many things would be solved if we could just make the Stone come to us instead of us going to it."
Alphonse shook his head. "Brother, I know you're a genius, but sometimes you're incredibly stupid."
Ed laughed and lightly punched Alphonse's shoulder. "You know me better than that, Al. Nothing's ever easy, and if it is, then we're probably doing it wrong anyway."
Alphonse smiled even though Edward couldn't see. Ed had turned his attention to the scenery outside the train window, but his eyes weren't actually focused on what was outside. Ed had turned inward, where he could think about what they were about to her involved in, and how best they could work with the information they already had. Alphonse had no doubt that plans were flashing through his brother's head as fast as alchemy formulas. Alphonse turned inward, too. He focused on the aspects of the case that Ed was no doubt thinking about, but he focused on what the file had described as the modus operandi of the assassin.
The assassin was smart, no question about that. He - or she - obviously knew the routes the victims had taken, he had known when the victims would be at a certain location, and he'd known how much time he'd have between approaching the target and killing his target before a patrol came around. And he was always able to escape unsheathed and unseen. There was no evidence as to who it was or where he'd gone. Still, there was one thing in common, one thing that had jumped out at Alphonse: the weapon of choice had been alchemy. Which meant the assassin was a skilled alchemist, on par with a State Alchemist. They probably were going to have to dig through miles and miles of paperwork in order to rule out alchemist who perceived that they'd been alighted by the government, and they would have to look at the personnel working on this secret project, which wouldn't make anyone happy.
Still, Roy had a point. Both he and Edward had been able to solve most of the cases they'd been handed, whether they had actually been trying to solve them or not. There was always something that they saw or found that pointed them in the right direction. Even if someone grumbled about them poking their noses into places where kids didn't belong - which happened more often than Alphonse liked - Roy would be able to put the grumblers down, at least until Ed and Alphonse managed to ruffle feathers again. Edward had a terrible time controlling his mouth sometimes, and Alphonse was often the one who had to placate not only the person Ed had offended, but his brother too. It made him feel as if he was the older brother instead of the younger. But, Alphonse realized with another unseen smile, he probably wouldn't have it any other way.
"Brother?"
"Hm?"
Alphonse looked toward Edward and waited until he had his brother's full attention. "Do you think we'll find any answers?"
Ed was quiet for a while. "I don't know. But that's the fun part of investigating, right?"
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Time's Scar