The Crimson Flare

Edward Elric, better known as the Fullmetal Alchemist, was on a self-appointed mission in the aftermath of the Devil's Nest raid.

To find Carmilla and the chimeras, most importantly Nina, that fled with her.

It made no sense that Fuhrer Bradley ordered the slaughter of those within complex if they'd really been terrorists.

What Al told him only made the older Elric more suspicious, according to Greed, not that he trusted the asshole that kidnapped his brother, the ruler of Amestris was a homunculus.

Ed was also curious as to who this 'Father' figure was for Greed to have known this person would send someone after him.

Contemplating the strange events in his mind, Ed stared sightlessly out the train window, not seeing the world blur by.

"Brother," Al's voice broke his concentration, turning his gaze to his younger brother, "do you think Carmilla was telling the truth about being a witch?" Al asked, tilting his helmet when Ed sighed.

"I didn't see her perform her so-called magic, only you did, but magic is supposed to be impossible," Ed began, rubbing the back of his head, "And when I confronted her about it, she said that both magic and alchemy came from the same place."

He stated, thinking back to her explanation.

"And that's another thing, she changed Nina's form, how could she do that?" the younger mentioned, he was happy Nina was no longer trapped in that canine form, but it shouldn't have been possible.

"Right," Ed nodded, "Carmilla said that she didn't use alchemy and that she didn't turn Nina back into a human, but how?" 

Carmilla made no sense, she had a transmutation circle, he only briefly caught sight of it in the form of a charm on her wrist when she pulled out the stick, so she clearly knew alchemy, but there was no alchemical reaction when she'd flicked the stick's glowing tip at him.

"Al, what exactly happened in the sewers?" the older asked, knowing that because of Bradley's actions, his younger brother now remembered the Gate.

"Well," Al muttered as he thought back to the events of three days ago, "when we first arrived in the tunnel, Carmilla fell to her knees in pain, clutching her chest. She mentioned something about a ward being tripped, I asked about it but never got an answer. From what I was able to gather, she placed some sort of alarm on the bar to alert them if a raid occurred. Then when Roa and Dolcetto showed up and untied me before attacking the Fuhrer, she disappeared with a 'popping' sound then reappeared with a loud crack between the chimeras and Bradley. She extended that stick thing toward Bradley and her right palm toward the chimeras. I heard her scream some strange word, I think it was Impedimenta, and both parties flew away from her."

Al informed him, holding one hand up with the index finger extended.

"Impedimenta?" Ed repeated, slightly struggling to form the syllables.

"Yeah, then when Greed faced the Fuhrer again after ordering Carmilla to blow up the tunnel, she said 'Bombarda Maxima' and a red light shot out of the stick." Alphonse continued.

"So that's how the tunnel collapsed," Ed mumbled, he'd examined the collapsed tunnel at the Fuhrer's orders with Armstrong, but they found no traces of alchemy.

"Yep, then they let me go before taking off. I saw Carmilla wave her stick one more time before she passed out, but I couldn't hear her say anything."

The more Ed learned about this Carmilla, the less she made sense.

"Do you think we'll find them?" Al questioned as Ed looked back out the window.

"I don't know Al, for now, we focus on getting out bodies back while keeping an eye out for them. Winry's gonna kill me," Ed sighed as he moved his automail arm.

"I hope they'll be okay. They seemed like good people despite everything," Al whispered quietly as he watched the world pass by.

Carmilla sneezed loudly, pausing mid-stride as from her shopping for supplies in a market in a town east of Dublith. They were stopped here to get clothes, medical supplies, and food before they were going to continue onto Liore, then north to a town called Minora.

A bit too close to central for the groups liking, but it was one of those towns where everyone kept to themselves, and sticking your nose into another's business would get you killed. 

"Sounds like someone's thinking of you," the shopkeeper joked, making Carmilla shake her head.

"I doubt it," she grunted, placing her purchases on the counter. 

"You never know, that'll be 500 cenz, please." 

Carmilla forked over the money before wandlessly casting a featherlight charm on the bags and making her way back to her family.

Family, that was a change, before the raid, she had refused to label the people she lived with properly, now she readily addressed them as such.

Reaching the abandoned house on the outskirts of town they'd claimed for the night, Carmilla knocked on the door in the pattern used to open Diagon Alley's passageway.

They'd agreed to use it as a form of protection, just in case.

Martel opened the door, looking a little worse for wear, tiredness in her eyes as she soundlessly took some of the bags from Carmilla.

"How's Nina?" Carmilla asked, looking over in a corner to find Dolcetto and Nina curled up together.

The youngest of their family had been plagued with night terrors since they escaped.

"She's okay for the moment, but who knows how long it'll last," Martel sighed as she began placing the food and medical supplies in duffle bags.

"What about you, Carmilla?" Martel questioned, eyeing the witch who shrugged.

"I'll be fine," Carmilla said, her tone telling the snake woman to leave it.

Martel shot a look to Roa, who shook his head, they were worried about Carmilla as she was just bottling up everything, but there was little they could do.

Once they reached Minora, they'd push so that she would release, until then they would watch over her.

"I got enough to last us for a few days. Mostly canned goods, it'll be a week's travel on foot from here. Unless we steal a car or something." Carmilla muttered as she looked over the map.

"A horse and wagon would be best, considering Roa's size," Martel smirked, Roa just didn't fit into cars without being squashed. 

Carmilla nodded at that while Roa blushed; it wasn't his fault he was so big.

"Later, I'm going to try a Point Me spell on both Greed and Bido; if they are still alive, it'll point in their direction," Carmilla muttered, making everyone save for the sleeping Nina look to her.

"You think they are?" Dolcetto questioned quietly to not wake Nina.

"I've done it for everyone we left behind, just to confirm they're dead," Carmilla informed, pulling her shrunken trunk from her bracelet (having switched from her necklace to said bracelet when the former broke), unshrinking it, and opening it to pull out a smooth rock she'd picked up.

Turning the rock to them, they saw the names of their family carved into the surface, most likely by magic, while the top two spaces just below the inscription of "The Nest" were empty.

"I...I wanted to give them a proper memorial." Carmilla avoided looking her brothers and sister in the eyes, staring sightlessly at the floor.

Carmilla felt her body being pulled into Roa's lap, the cow chimera wrapping her up in his arms.

"It's nice Milla, we'll have to find a place to put it," Roa said softly, petting her hair as the teen struggled not to cry.

She wouldn't, couldn't, cry until her family was safe, and Bradley and Father were dead.

Martel saw the look in the younger female's eyes and felt concern fill her.

"Milla, what are you planning, I see that look in your eyes," Martel demanded causing Carmilla to look at her.

"I promised Truth I'd see Dwarf dead, but right now, I'm focused on getting us to safety. That's all that matters right now. My goals are as follows for the moment. One, getting us to Minora. Two, contacting Zolf and continuing to expand my knowledge of explosive alchemy." Carmilla informed, her tone grim.

"You what?" Dolcetto growled, having put Nina down on the makeshift bed and walking over.

"When I passed out after 'fixing' Nina, Truth pulled me into the Gate to warn me that I'd only get away with that once and that I owed the Gate a favor. It wants Dwarf dead."

Carmilla shrugged, there was little point in hiding anything, this was her family, and unlike those pawns of Dumbledore, they really cared.

The three groaned, knowing that it was pointless to argue with her now.

"Just use the spell, I want to see if Greed and Bido are still with us." Martel sighed as Carmilla nodded.

Holding her wand flat across her palm, she focused on Greed, the wand spinning so fast it was a blur for a moment before slowing but never stopping.

Carmilla held back a sob, the result telling her that Greed was dead.

Seeing her look, the others bowed their heads as she stopped the spell.

"He's gone..." Carmilla whispered, wishing above all else that she'd called him father more than just that once.

Roa held her tighter, tucking her head under his chin as she reset her wand on her palm and focused on Bido.

This time the wand once again was a blur before snapping to a stop pointing north-west.

Smiles broke out on their faces at the result.

"Bido's alive!" Dolcetto barked only to be shushed, reminding him of the still sleeping Nina.

"Yes...he is." Carmilla felt relief fill her at the result.

"But how do we find him?" Roa questioned.

"Once we're in Minora, I'll go find him. I'll be looking for Zolf as well." Carmilla told him, causing the man to nod.

"Verry well, we move at first light." 

It took them six days to reach Minora, Carmilla tracking Bido every day of the trip.

Upon arrival in the small town, Dolcetto and Roa looked for abandoned buildings they could turn into a base while Carmilla scouted the city with Nina and Martel staying in the camp just outside the town in the woods.

She was gauging how much of a presence the military had in the city only to find that there wasn't one.

'Why is there no military presence? Being so close to Liore and the riots, there should be some semblance of a patrol at least.' she thought as she wandered through the market square.

She waved at a woman who was offering handcrafted jewelry, smiled at children who ran circles around her, and ignored the men who whistled at her in an attempt to garner attention.

It was almost perfectly peaceful, normal even, and that thought sent a chill up her spine.

'Truth, it's like Private Drive,' she realized as she turned around, making her way back to the others.

This place would be perfect for hiding, but it practically made her break out in hives to be here.

"Hey, everything okay?" Martel called out, seeing the disturbed look in her eyes.

"Yeah, the town's just so peaceful it's disturbing," Carmilla answered as she sat down beside Nina, pulling the younger into her lap and running her fingers through Nina's hair.

"Peaceful is what we're after, isn't it?" Martel questioned, leaning against a tree.

"It is, but there is absolutely no military presence in the town Mar," Carmilla sighed, wondering if her paranoia was getting the best of her.

"No military, that makes no sense!" Martel hissed in shock, causing the witch to chuckle.

"That's what I thought. The riots in Liore should have increased the military presence in all surrounding towns, but this one acts like they aren't even aware of what happened." Carmilla muttered, chewing on her thumb as Dolcetto returned.

"Milla's right, this place gives me the creeps. It could just be that 'small town' thing, but still odd. We're in luck, though; there is an abandoned farm on the east side of the town. Big enough for all of us too." Dolcetto reported as Nina jumped into his arms.

"Even for Mister Roa?" Nina asked curiously, making them smile.

"Even Roa, in fact, he's waiting for us there," Dolcetto said as he placed Nina on his shoulders, Nina placing her hands on his head, mindful of her claws.

"Yay!"

"Lead the way, Dol," Martel grunted as she picked up two of the duffle bags, Carmilla grabbing the other two.

The farmhouse that served as the Devil's Nest's new home was a two-story with a large basement and five bedrooms, three on the first floor, two on the second.

It wasn't the bar, but it would do for now.

Carmilla was setting up a temporary lab in the basement when Roa joined her, the large man having to watch his head as he came down the stairs.

"Milla," Roa called out as he watched her arrange her potions equipment.

"Yes, Roa?" she called back, not looking up from her task.

"The others are worried about you."

"I know," she sighed, pulling her cauldron out of her trunk and placing it on the table, "they think I'm going to do something stupid, right?" she questioned as she glanced to the ox chimera who gave a slight nod.

"Well, I'm not. I wasn't lying when I said that right now, I'm focused on expanding my knowledge. Can you hand me that book on the podium by the door?"

Roa looked to the makeshift podium and picked up the book there, seeing that it was a charms book.

Taking the book from him, she flipped it open to a marked page, turning the book back to him.

"This is the Patronus Charm, it's main use is to ward off dark creatures called dementors and some others. It calls upon a guardian spirit of sorts, taking the form of an animal that represents who you are as a person. Another use of this spell is communication." Carmilla informed him, making him raise a brow.

"You plan to learn this to contact Kimblee and Bido?" Roa stated.

"Yes, the problem is, however, that the spell requires happiness to power it, a memory that brings you so much joy it cuts through the darkness in your life. I don't know if I have a memory strong enough. Then again, that is why I'm going to practice."

She explained with a frown making the large male grimace. 

"You'll figure it out somehow, just be careful," Roa ordered as he pats her on the head before turning to leave.

"I will; tell the others not to worry so much, I'm a big girl," Carmilla tells him, making him smirk as he leaves the basement.

It took Carmilla six weeks to finally cast the spell, drawing on all her memories since coming to Amestris to power the spell as she didn't have a single memory that could produce more than a spark.

Her Patronus' form made her want to brain herself with a blunt object.

Why?

Because it was a snake of all things, a very familiarly shaped snake in that it was a freaking basilisk!

Her book said that Patroni takes on the form of a protector, so why the ever living hell was a basilisk her protector?

Watching her Patronus curl around her, the answer hit her like a ton of bricks.

It was her personality, she was cunning and deadly. She had no problem with killing if it meant she could protect those she cared about. 

'But then why not a dragon,' she pondered as she watching the large serpent explore the basement.

'Could the basilisk that I faced in the Chamber affect the form of my Patronus? It was the protector of the Chamber itself; that was the reason behind its creation.' she theorized before deciding that it didn't matter what form her Patronus took.

"Should I give it a nickname?" she muttered under her breathe before calling on her Patronus that turned it's head to her, curling up before her.

"I need you to deliver a message," she told it, causing the snake to open its mouth.

Taking this as her cue to relay the message, she spoke, "Zolf, I hope this reaches you in good condition. Ignore that a snake is speaking, it's a spell. You've no doubt learned that the Devil's Nest was raided, we've moved to a small town near Liore. Save for a few, everyone died. Be careful, and join up with us when you can. Message end." 

Watching the basilisk close it's mouth, she told it to give the message to her father and ensure that it wasn't seen before sending the Patronus on its way before she made her way upstairs to her room to get some sleep.

She wasn't ready to acknowledge it, but with everything that had happened, she wanted to let her father in more than ever.