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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
- 3
- 4
- 5
Four
The uniformed officers waved the Elric brothers through as Mallory bulled his way through the crowd that had sprung up around the hostel building that was now cordoned off to anyone who wasn't military or involved in the case that was currently taking up the front page of Central's newspaper. Ed glanced around at the faces of the crowd, trying to see if any didn't belong there, or if someone looked too curious about what was going on inside the building. Disappointingly, he didn't see anyone that matched either description. He followed Mallory inside the hostel, heading up the stairs to the third floor. Alphonse elected to stay outside and follow another officer around to the other side of the building.
When Ed entered the room, the first thing he noticed was the giant hole in the wall. He headed toward it, studying the edges of the hole. Definitely alchemical, judging by the smooth edges of the hole and the small, almost imperceptible rectangles that showed the stone had been molded rather than blasted. It was destruction alchemy at work for sure. He stood at the threshold of the hole and looked down into the alley where Alphonse now stood. The younger Elric was studying the building's wall, almost scrutinizing the wall and the rubble that covered the alley's floor.
"Alchemy there too?" Ed called down to Alphonse.
Al nodded. "Looks like he made stairs." The suit of armor turned to look down each side of the alley. "The thoroughfare is that way. My guess is that he ran toward the crowds rather than away from them."
"Definitely easier to hide in plain sight, especially since we don't know what this bastard looks like." Ed said, turning back into the room. "Come up here when you're done down there."
"Okay."
Ed slowly began to pace the room, looking for anything that could give him a clue as to the killer's motives. Or a clue as to who he might be. The room itself was bare except for a bed and a nightstand. The nightstand had a lamp on top of it, but very little else. Whoever this guy was, he certainly didn't believe in leaving anything behind. Then Ed's eye fell on the trunk tucked away on the other side of the bed and moved toward it. The trunk looked old, worn, but well taken care of. Made of metal and wood, it had a dark green cloth stretched along the top and sides of it. There was no lock, but Ed was certain there was an alchemical trap attached somewhere, ready to explode if someone tampered with the trunk.
He dragged it out of its hiding place and brought it to the center of the room. There he crouched, studying the locking mechanism to see if he could open it here, or if it was safer to open it outside where there was less of a chance of something being destroyed, namely, the building.
Alphonse entered the room to find Ed still puzzling over the trunk. "What's that?" Alphonse asked, moving to crouch next to his brother.
"Looks like our killer left this behind. I'm trying to figure out if there's any traps on it."
"Looks ordinary enough to me."
"Al, this trunk might belong to a psychotic killer. We can't take anything for granted."
Alphonse looked at Ed. "Do you want me to open it? Even if there's a trap, I won't be as affected as badly as you would be."
Ed tilted his head to look at Alphonse, his eyes slightly narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Alphonse smiled. "I don't have to worry about getting my head dented in if I ruin my armor."
Edward paled a little bit, and Alphonse wondered if his brother was going to be sick. It was a low blow, and Alphonse knew it. Every time the brothers went on another adventure or got involved in military work, there was the inevitable moment where Ed would either break or almost break his automail, usually his arm. Which either resulted in a trip home to Resembool to visit his mechanic, or his mechanic made the trip out to Central or Eastern HQ to fix what Ed broke. And Winry never took kindly to the fact Ed broke his automail, whether it was by accident or on purpose. She also meted out her own punishment on Ed for breaking his automail, which she worked so hard on for him, a fact she never let him forget. So Edward stood up and stepped behind Alphonse, and Alphonse shifted his position so he could focus on the lock on the trunk and shield his brother from whatever might happen.
The lock looked as ordinary as locks could come. It was a single latch, a single keyhole that looked as if it hadn't seen a key in some time. Which told Alphonse that the trunk's owner used alchemy to unseal the trunk rather than a key. Alphonse took a deep breath and reached out to take the lock in his hand. He turned it one way then the other, then finally set it back against the trunk. He pulled out his piece of chalk and began to draw an alchemy formula directly in the trunk surrounding the lock. When he finished, he put the chalk away and shifted his body to better shield his brother from anything that might go wrong.
"Ready, Ed?"
"Go ahead."
Alphonse set his fingers against the outermost part of the chalk circle he'd drawn and activated his alchemy. The light filled the room and Alphonse watched the lock shiver and shake as his alchemy worked against the tumblers and mechanisms inside. Then the light flared brighter, and Alphonse yelped as his alchemy backfired. The lock and a good portion of the trunk exploded, showering Alphonse with bits of cloth, wood, and metal. Edward slowly uncurled himself from the tight ball he'd folded himself in, then looked toward Alphonse in alarm.
"Are you okay?" Ed asked his brother. "Al? Alphonse!"
Alphonse coughed harshly. "I'm okay, brother. I'm okay. I wasn't expecting that."
Edward moved to look at the remains of the lock and the trunk. "I guess he was expecting someone to tamper with it, huh?"
"Looks that way. It was like he had an alchemical trap on it, designed to stop any alchemy at the destruction phase." Alphonse looked at his fingers. They were singed, but not destroyed. "But it looks like it was also designed not to hurt the person using the alchemy on the lock."
Ed turned to look at his brother, golden eyes studying those ashen metal fingers. There didn't seem to be any damage beyond the surface but then, he had a pretty good idea what his flesh would've looked like had he been touching the lock when it exploded. "I guess whatever was in there wasn’t really important after all."
"I don't know." Alphonse said, moving to look through the remains of the trunk. "Looks like clothes."
"Like I said, not really important. No one knows who this guy is. It wouldn't be hard for him to buy new clothes."
"I don't think he had any money. According to the officer I was with, this hostel takes on people who usually don't have anything to their name and want to remain anonymous. They get their money through donations and government funding."
Edward frowned. "Guess that makes this the perfect hideout for him. Are there any other places like this?"
"I don't know. I'll ask Mallory. He might know of any more places like this, and he could put a watch on them." Alphonse poked at several scraps of what might have been a shirt and wondered what kind of killer would simply leave so much evidence behind, unless it couldn't be traced to him in the first place. Even if they sent it away for testing, there was a good chance that there would be no evidence on the clothes, no blood or anything that could be a definitive link to their owner.
Edward sighed. "The only clue we have is that he's a really good alchemist and that now he's somewhere out there in a city of thousands."
"I guess we'll have to either hope he makes a mistake and shows up at one of these hostels or striking at a known target." Which neither of them wanted to have happen, though they harbored no doubts that it would. Alphonse rose from the floor and gave the room another look. "I think we're done here, right, brother?"
Ed put his hands on his hips and frowned at the giant hole in the wall. "I guess so. I mean, I don't see anything giving us an idea of where he's going or what he's going to do next. Let's find Mallory and see what he found out. We'll see if he'll take us to the scene of the murder next."
"What good would that do?"
Edward looked up at his little brother. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Alphonse paused, "we already know how he kills. Do we really need to see the crime scene and the body?"
"The scene I want to go look at because I want to see how he was able to get close. Everything's been stepped up since Central put two and two together with these murders." Ed said. "So the killer is back to square one with the rest of his list. I also want to see if there's any alchemical evidence. Maybe we can figure out a circle that will keep his alchemy from working."
Alphonse nodded. "Since there's no circle left behind, the circle has to be on his person. If we can disrupt that somehow, his circle shouldn't activate if he can't complete it."
"Right." Ed touched his automail right arm. "It'd be the equivalent of breaking my arm here. If I can't move it, I can't perform my alchemy very well."
The Elric brothers left the apartment and headed out of the building to find Lieutenant Mallory. The portly man was standing with a matronly woman in a patchwork dress and a white apron. When he spotted the Elrics, he nodded at the woman, then headed over to the boys. "Anything up there?" He asked.
"Nothing." Ed replied. "There was a trunk, but it was rigged to explode if someone tampered with the lock."
Mallory eyed them. "Let me guess. You tampered with it."
Ed shrugged as if he didn't really care. "Besides that, nothing of note was left behind."
"The hostel lets people stay for free," Alphonse said, "so he doesn't have any money. Which means he'll have to stay out on the streets or risk another house like this."
Mallory rubbed his chin. "There aren't many houses like this. I'll see if I can get a unit out to those houses to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious."
"Those officers that followed him, did they see what he looked like?" Ed asked. "Or that lady?"
Mallory shook his head. "They only saw a brown leather coat cut in the style like your red coat. Hood was pulled up to obscure the face and the guy wore gloves. As for the lady, she runs the sign in desk here. Every tenant is required to sign in upon entering the building and upon leaving, so they can keep track of who's in what apartment and how long the person stays."
"So what name did he use?" Ed asked. "Maybe we can track him through that?"
Mallory chuckled humorlessly. "I wish it was that easy. He used the name Alfons Heiderich. I'm having some people run down the name, but I'm pretty sure it's an alias."
Ed and Alphonse exchanged looks. Then Ed looked back at Mallory. "Is there a chance we might be able to go to the scene? I'd like to take a look around there."
Mallory's lips thinned to a little line. "I'll see what I can do, but the people at that facility are very... wary of outsiders. It's amazing the killer got so close." The portly lieutenant walked away, leaving the Elric brothers alone on the street.
"Why would he use my name?" Alphonse asked.
"I don't know if he actually meant to use it. That name..." Ed paused, arms crossing over his chest as he thought long and hard about that name. "It sounds familiar somehow."
Alphonse looked down at his brother. "Really? Where have you heard it before?"
"I don't know," Ed replied after a long moment, "it feels like the answer's on the tip of my tongue but I really don't know."
The Elrics looked at each other for a long time before Alphonse sighed. "I don't like this, brother. I wish Roy was here."
Ed grimaced, but he nodded. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but, me too, Alphonse. Me too."
- 3
- 4
- 5
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Time's Scar