THE SCROLL OF DEADALUS

By the time they packed up their gear and loaded up the transports it was nearly dark. The Alchemist from the Furher’s office made a point of giving Edward and Alphonse a wide berth. The few instances they did pass within viewing range of each other Jade would make a suggestive gesture at Edward and Edward would respond with a rude insulting one.

After the fourth time they exchanged nonverbal remarks Edward seethed. “That guy is so dead.”

“Ed, he’ll be gone by dark and you’ll never have to see him again,” Alphonse told him.

“Yeah, but he’s still on my list,” Edward stated.

They were headed to the Jeep that was their ride back when Colonel Mustang caught up with them. “Where’s the scroll?”

“I have it,” Alphonse told him and from inside his chestplate he pulled out the two scrolls. “You need the old one to make the new one work,” he explained as he handed them both over to Mustang. “It’s the only way we could maintain the integrity of the original.”

The Colonel looked over the new scroll and raised an eyebrow appreciatively. “Your work?” he asked Alphonse.

“Actually it was a united effort. I just did the drawing because Ed thinks I’m better at it.”

The Colonel smiled slightly. “Good job.” He told both brothers who responded with a half-hearted “thanks” before he left them to give the scroll to the Furher’s Alchemist.

When he was given the scroll Jade opened it and began to examine it closely under the fading sunlight. Mustang could tell from his expression he knew what he was looking at and looking for. Ritual Alchemy was not one of Mustang’s specialties. He knew enough to get by but his true skills lay in quick tactical battle Alchemy. If the Elrics did something subtle to distort the function of that ancient scroll then Jade would probably find it. His specialty was Ritual Alchemy, which was why he was sent in the first place. He hadn’t gotten there in time to decipher the old scroll but he knew enough to check it for accuracy.

Jade turned away from the parchment to glance over at the Colonel. “Whose handiwork is this? Yours?”

“No,” Mustang stated. “Fullmetal and his brother made it.”

“Really?” he cooed intrigued. “Do they know what this does?”

“They know,” Mustang stated flatly. “They only translated it because they were ordered to do so. That thing is worse than human transmutation. If we had known about that at the battle of Ishbal-“

“Then it would have made things so much easier!” Jade interrupted brightly. “Well, there will be no more Ishbals, Colonel. Not anymore.”

Mustang made no reply. The battle of Ishbal was one war he really wanted to put behind him. He glanced over his shoulder at the Jeep where Edward and Alphonse were waiting with his driver to leave. The sooner they were out of Pallet Town, the better.

“You have what you came for,” Mustang stated. “My work here is done.”

He gave Jade a curt salute and turn on his heel heading for the Jeep.

“Colonel Mustang.”

Mustang stopped and did a half turn to see what that smarmy bastard wanted now.

“I’m going to need to test this before I bring it back to the Furher. Any suggestions?”

“There are five Alchemy labs back in Central. Make use of one.”

“This needs a field test.”

Mustang knew where this was headed and he didn’t like it one bit. “Not possible.”

“Oh, well this should make it possible, Colonel,” Jade said smugly as he handed him an envelope bearing the crest of the Furher himself. Mustang took the envelope from him and read the contents. The Furher had given his Alchemist the authority to order Mustang to take him wherever he needed to go, give him whatever supplies he required, and men to get whatever work he needed done done. The Colonel folded the papers back up again his expression stony.

“All right then,” he began trying not to sound too surly. “What do you want?”

“You must know where those nasty rebels are holing up in these hills. Let’s go find them and see if this thing really works. Oh, and in case it doesn’t, I’m going to need a back up plan. Let say, a couple of Alchemists who look as good as they fight and a few of your sharpshooters stationed around us just in case things get out of hand.”

Mustang knew he wanted Edward to be one of his fighting Alchemists and he wasn’t too keen on the idea of allowing Edward within ten feet of Jade. Edward wanted the guy dead and putting him in a position where he could act on those desires was not a good idea. However, Jade had wanted two Alchemists. So he was going to get two Alchemists….

“I can’t believe Mustang ordered me to go with this cretin!” Edward fumed as he and Alphonse followed Jade up the craggy path that led up a hillside, which supposedly led to a cave the insurgents were using as a hiding spot.

“He had no choice, Ed,” Alphonse endeavored to explain. “He had orders from the Furher himself.”

“I wonder if the Furher knows what a fuckwit this guy Jade is,” Edward wondered.

“What are you two talking about back there?” Jade demanded not liking the fact he couldn’t hear them because the brothers Elric had purposely been keeping at least ten steps back.

“Get up here!” he barked.

“Unless you have something for us to do we’re staying right here,” Edward stated.

“I do have a job for you Fullmetal, now get your tight little ass up here now!”

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE?” If Edward was out for blood before he was headed for a taste of it now. He bounded up the path with Alphonse doing his best to keep up.

“Brother slow down!” Alphonse called.

Edward stood on the top of an incline so he could get into Jade’s face. “This had better be good,” he threatened.

Jade took advantage of their closeness and cupped Edward’s balls saying, “Oh, it will be.”

Edward backed off like he’d been shot and swiftly transmuted his auto-mail arm into a short sword. He was battle ready when he turned his flashing gold eyes on Jade. “I’m going to cut your heart out!”

Jade held up the two scrolls saying, “If you do one favor for me I’ll burn these to ashes.”

Edward stared at him. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh? Pallet Town is a long way from Central and a lot of things can happen on a journey of that magnitude. Things can get lost, damaged, stolen-“

“Get to the point,” Edward barked.

“I know you don’t want anyone to have these so I’m willing to let you have them to destroy if you can come up an equivalent exchange.”

Edward lowered his sword arm. “I don’t know what that scroll is worth,” he said.

“Oh, I do,” Jade said sweetly to him. “Send the Soul Alchemist back to the Jeep and you and I can discuss the trade.”

“His name is Alphonse,” Edward corrected sharply.

“Oh? I thought he was one of us.”

“My brother is an Alchemist but he isn’t a State Alchemist so he doesn’t have an Alchemical alias like I do,” Edward told him.

“I see,” Jade mused eyeing the suit of armor speculatively. “Well, if you want to negotiate a trade I’m up for it. Are you?”

Edward returned his Auto-mail arm to normal saying, “Give me a minute to discuss this with my brother.”

Jade waved him away airily and Edward rejoined Alphonse and they both moved out of hearing range.

“Edward the only thing you have of value is those books we took from the library. Every Alchemist seeks the Philosopher’s Stone. He’s probably no different,” Alphonse surmised.

“Yeah, I know,” Edward agreed. “But I can’t think of what’s worse. The Furher getting another clue about the Philosopher’s Stone or those storm trooper Alchemists he has getting their hands on that scroll.”

“Not an easy choice.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I don’t have all day!” Jade admonished pointedly.

A dark expression crossed Edward’s countenance. His eyes had a strange glint to them when he said to Alphonse, “Do you trust me?”

Alphonse did not like the look on his brother’s face. It scared him. “What are you going to do?”

“Just answer me.”

“Of course I do but-“

“They take yourself and our books and get back to the Jeep. I’ll join you there. If my plan works, then this will all be over in ten minutes.”

“You’re not going to kill him, are you?” Alphonse asked his voice cracking.

“I can’t, even though I want to,” Edward stated. “I promised not to do anything that would break us up remember? I intend to keep my promise to you Al, no matter what.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I can’t tell you,” Edward said looking genuinely penitent about having to keep a secret from his brother. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Alphonse sighed. “Okay.” When he gave Edward a hug goodbye he forgot his own strength for a moment and squashed the wind out of Edward’s lungs. “Sorry,” he apologized as he took off leaving Edward standing there having a coughing fit.

Once he recovered Edward returned to face the Jade Alchemist. “Okay, here’s the deal. I have a cache of books on the Philosopher’s Stone. They’re yours for the scrolls.”

The Jade Alchemist laughed at him. “Books? That is your equivalent exchange?”

“I don’t know what pile of whale shit you crawled out from under to get here but in case you haven’t heard, every Alchemist with a clue wants the Philosopher’s Stone!” Edward extolled hotly.

“That may be but I am not interested in books about your precious Philosopher’s Stone,” Jade said. “I desire something more…pleasurable.”

Edward noticed Jade’s eyes were on his crotch and he felt his face go red. Nobody ever looked at him like that before. It made Edward twitch.

“Well Fullmetal?”

Edward’s mind raced. They were very close to the insurgent’s cave. If they made too much noise, then someone was bound to come out and investigate. He had to think of a way to get the scrolls and keep his pride. As he watched Jade mentally undress him with his eyes an idea hit him like Winry’s wrench.

“Okay,” Edward acquiesced. “You can have me but first you have to make a place for us to go where we can do this in private.”

“The cave?” Jade suggested seductively.

“That’s fine except it’s occupied.”

“Not for long,” Jade stated as he headed up the incline. He paused for a moment saying, “I hope you don’t mind if I use this scroll just once before I give it to you?”

“Not at all.”

This was just a little too easy, Jade thought. That kid is up to something. He stopped and demanded. “A token of good faith.”

“I already said I would-“

“I don’t trust you,” Jade declared. “Prove you’re willing to get naked for me.”

It seemed he wasn’t going to escape this with his pride intact after all. “Fine,” Edward grumbled as he began to remove his clothing. When he was down to his boxers he paused asking, “Satisfied?”

“The boxers too sweetie.”

“Pervert,” Edward muttered under his breath as he shed the boxers.

Jade sighed very pleased by what he saw. That boy was living proof that size and height were two entirely different attributes. Edward had a lovely body, so toned and hard. The auto-mail wasn’t the least bit unattractive. If anything, it made Edward even more exotic and desirable.

“You just hang out here and wait a minute. I’ll be right back.”

Edward rolled his eyes skyward and tried not to think of what the cold was doing to places on his body that weren’t used to it. He found a large rock and sat down. The last time he was anywhere near this undressed he had been with Mustang.

Did that really happen only a night ago?