8 years after the Promised Day...
In the summer of 1923 is where everything went to shit once again for the Elric Brothers. ‘One would think the Elric genes must just be made of bad luck,’ Edward thinks to himself as he lays on the cold stone, contemplating his life after having the air kicked out of his chest.
Ed’s groan turns into a hiss instead as the ground around him wraps around his body a little too tightly as the tendrils trap him to the cold, hard surface. “Wow, Elric. You really lost your fighting spirit after all these years,” Ed hears across the room, even with the commotion coming from the fighting happening right beside him.
Even with all that’s going on, he could still recognize the irritating voice of his ex-superior; Roy Mustang. With what little breathe he has left, Ed replies, “At least I didn’t get myself and my officers kidnapped,” wheezing, then adding, “You old man.” Ed smirks, knowing Mustang’s brow definitely twitched with irritation at the old comment.
The general has been living in peace in Central after The Promised Day, giving up on his ambition for being Fuhrer and leaving it to Grumman. One would think he was pretty lonely after his team split but Riza Hawkeye was still there to give him enough… ambition (with the use of ammunition) to keep him busy. Mustang had thought he’d finally be free of a few golden-haired nuisances but this less-than-amusing situation was really bringing the gang back together. With Riza on one side of him, Fuery on his other, and Havoc behind him, this scene would be lovely if it was in a bar and not with rope tying himself and his colleagues to each other. Mustang can only think now that Vato had the right idea about retiring after The Promised Day, if only he could keep himself busy enough not to drink himself into an early grave. He also didn’t have a loving family like Falman. Mustang almost wishes he transferred to the North with Heymans- almost being the keyword, along with ‘Olivier Armstrong’ being his biggest deterrent. Now here he is, stuck in a dusty warehouse with only the Elric brothers and there Xing entourage as their saviors.
Before Mustang can retaliate with another snarky comment, Hawkeye clears her throat before saying, “Sir, perhaps thinking about getting us out of this mess would be more beneficial than childish squabbling.” Ed winces, both at Hawkeye’s terrifying tone and the uncomfortable tightening of the rock around him. While Ed missed Hawkeye and the rest of the team, he definitely didn’t miss the steel-cold tone of ‘The Hawk’s Eye’. She did look good in her short hair, cutting it for her and Catalina’s wedding. Ed had been invited but unfortunately had been caught up with his adventures in Xing. Winry went though, with Pinanya as her date. It was simple but very lively considering the many military friends who had come to get drunk and congratulate the lieutenants.
Mustang goes silent, most likely thinking of a plan after being scolded by Riza. Ed, though, isn’t paying any attention to the military dogs, trying to angle himself so he can check on his brother and his ‘traveling buddies’. Edward is only able to just spot Ling Yao and Lan Fan bouncing around the corrupt alchemist guild members, whom have been able to somehow kidnap the high-ranking military officials even with their half-rate alchemy and mediocre fighting skills.
With Ling Yao and Lan Fan in sight, whom he was traveling over the East with in order to better relations between Amestris and the Xing Empire, Ed only needed to try to pinpoint where his little brother was. Straining his neck upward as far as he could without hurting himself, he was able to see his brother in the middle of a transmutation. After the first few years after the Promised day, Al had to handle some pretty rough physical therapy due to his atrophied body. With the help of Ed and Winry, he was able to build up his body enough to go traveling in Xing in order to continue his research into Alkahestry, but he still has to use a cane for long distances on foot. Mei was also a surprisingly good teacher and Al was able to learn enough from her to go traveling around Xing to learn from other Masters of Alkahestry.
Al was having a good time too until his brother decided to lie, or as Ed would call “withholding the truth”, about his automail leg and when he last got it looked at by Winry. Al had been called back to Amestris with his brother and companions after an enlightening and loud phone call from Winry about Ed’s mandatory leg tune-up. Once Winry was able to check over Ed’s leg while also giving him a few good licks from her wrench, she surprised the brothers by telling them how she proposed to Paninya. Congratulating the two, they were off on their long journey back to Xing after promising to be back for the wedding… except some military personnel decided to get themselves kidnapped and the Elrics thought it’d be a great idea to help out some old friends. Thus, their situation now and why Al was trying his best to not die -- again.
The younger Elric brother claps his hands and throws them against the floor, rippling the floors composition in order to cause a minor earthquake in the area around the four alchemists cornering him. With the alchemists on the floor and groaning Al, already sweating from having to do fast-paced alchemy compositions that he was not used to, looks towards his brother and sees him struggling against is cement binds. “Brother!”, he yells, already planning on heading towards him when he was caught off guard by an alchemist behind him.
The alchemist, holding Ed’s metal staff that he had been using in Xing, swings back and hits the youngest Elric across his forehead, sending him sprawling to the floor. Watching Al’s brow bleeding and lying exceptionally still, Ed yells out his name. “AL!” Ed gasps out, the stony binds hugging him so closely now that he could barely speak without losing his breathe.
Ling and Lan hear Ed’s distress, breathing heavily due to the amount of alchemists advancing towards them constantly. Ling manages to spot Al’s prone body and signals for Lan Fan to head over to check on him. Hesitating slightly, Lan Fan heads over to Al after sending a rather bulky looking alchemy cult member into several of his other ‘buds’. She swiftly crouches down next to Alphonse and checks his pulse, indicating the strength and determining that he was merely knocked out. Preparing to defend the youngest Elric, she turns around suddenly after hearing her prince’s distressed grunt. She lands her eyes on Ling being held back by several cultists, managing to transmute a bundle of ropes around him. Lan, too focused on her prince, realizes too late that she also was transmuted to her spot, her feet stuck in the warehouses cement.
“I’m thinking we are a little rusty with the whole ‘saving people’ thing, huh?” Ling manages to gasp out, the ropes almost deathly tight around him. Ed was too distressed about his brother and too out of breath from the cement binds around him to pay attention to Ling’s banter. Havoc and Fuery were looking at each other from the corner of their eyes, thinking the same thing: ‘We are screwed.’
“Finally, the prophecy is almost complete!” an odd and most-definitely irritating voice bellows out from the shadows. The cultists that are able to get up from being beaten were dragging their unconscious cult member buddies. Clearing out the way, Riza was able to notice the drawing on the concrete floor, looking towards Mustang to notice that he too just realized how fucked they were.
“Once the circle is activated, the prophecy will be complete! We’ll have saved them! We will save them all!”, the voice once again goes off, sounding more and more insanity-filled, which does fit the situation quite accurately. Ed’s struggling against his binds starts to slow, his breaths getting more ragged. “Al… Ling… Lan…”, he manages to gasp out, his eyes steadily closing. The last thing he sees is the glowing blue light of the transmutation circle.