Chapter 30—An Unnatural Chill

Um…so if anyone's still reading, I'm still alive…and writing. Life and a writer's block for this chapter just got in the way. I can't promise it won't happen again. In fact, it will probably be a while before I can update again because of some really hard classes this semester, but…I still intend to finish this story.

Anyways, thanks to all those who reviewed! It really helped motivate me when I was trying to come up with what to write next.

I don't own Darker than Black or Fullmetal Alchemist

"Aaaaagh!"

Far underneath Central in the sewers, a group of chimeras in the air vent above the smelly muck watched inquisitively as a curious event unfolded below them. Many of the chimeras didn't know what was happening, but only watched because all the other chimeras were, and because they were afraid to descend with so many dangerous figures below. But the other chimeras, the ones that had been, in a past life, human, watched the unfolding scene with vague recognition. Two figures moved grotesquely in the filth below, their bodies contorting in concordance with the sparks that danced across them. Screams were the only accompaniment to their movements, and another pair of humans watched them move.

One human-chimera was watching the two spasming figures below particularly intensely. Something was familiar about it, something that hovered just out of reach in the back of his mind. He strained trying to remember…dancing? Was that it? The human-chimera remembered days by a fire enclosed in a brick box, twirling around with a little girl to clapping and music. He tapped his claw-like nails against the grate, trying to find a rhythm in the screams, but found none to his disappointment. He slouched, tails between his legs, as he tried to recall more such memories, such pleasant details of his past life. But he couldn't, and before long, he had forgotten all about the fire in the box, the little girl, music, and dancing, and he clambered away, uninterested. An animal's brain couldn't hold human memories for long after all.

One by one, the chimeras became disenchanted with the scene below and wandered away. One, however, stayed behind as it intently watched one of the spectators of the dance. Suddenly, seeming to make up its mind, it opened its mouth. "Hei." The spectator looked up, startled.

"Mao?" he breathed in disbelief. The other spectator, an empty suit of armor, also looked up in surprise. The chimera raised its paw slightly, winked, and ambled off before the spectators could say another word. It had been hard enough finding an opening to escape, and he wouldn't risk being any more obvious than he already had been. He lay his grotesque head down between his paws. He had informed Hei that he was still alive; it was best to lay low from now on.

Farther down the air vent, a chimera nail tapping against metal started up another unsteady beat.

Mao's alive. Hei's focus slipped for a moment as he stared at the spot Mao had just vacated. Surely the researchers would have known not to keep him near any sort of animal, so… how?

It doesn't matter. Focus.

He returned his attention to the Homunculi, who were spasming uncontrollably as he electrocuted them over and over, their screeches echoing throughout the sewer; the smell of burning meat intermixed with the pungent odor of waste. They definitely hadn't noticed Hei's quick exchange with Mao—Gluttony seemed unable to do anything but continue to scream where he lay. Lust, though, was still dangerous. She was still trying to attack him, her nails elongating and withdrawing again and again, but the electricity-induced spasming seemed to be making it difficult to aim, and she continued to miss, merely punching holes in the sewer wall. A rogue nail zoomed past his head, and he quickly ducked and hurried out of the way in case the Homunculus suddenly regained control of her faculties. But still…this didn't seem like it would be too difficult. If what the brothers had said was true, all he had to do was keep electrocuting these homunculi until their Philosopher's stones ran out, and then they would die…

He heard a shifting sound to his left. Al stood uncomfortably off to the side on the sewer sidewalk, freed from Lust's nails and full of puncture wounds. He didn't seem to be looking anywhere in particular, but even with that expressionless mask for a face Hei could sense his reproach. The boy's—or rather, the armor's—shoulder plates were hunched, his arms held close to himself… his body language spoke for himself. He didn't approve of the suffering Hei was causing the Homunculi. Hei felt a flash of disapproval, but had to remind himself that really, this boy really was still just a child, just as he himself had once been. Al hadn't yet had the realization that survival had to come before any kind of pity for the enemy.

The screams continued drearily onwards, echoing down the sewers…it wouldn't be long now until reinforcements were sent, he was sure. He tried to stay on alert, his ears straining for the slightest sound past the screams, while also keeping a vigilant eye on Lust. So far, nothing. This might just turn out alright…

Suddenly, Hei saw a flash and heard an explosion, loud enough to momentarily drown out the screams of the two Homunculi he was electrocuting. He spared a glance upwards: bright flames, contrasting sharply against the pitch-black sky, were now billowing up from one of the columns that Ed had conjured up…but he couldn't see anything further.

"What was that?" Al whispered from where he stood at his side.

"Don't know," Hei answered him curtly. Right on cue, something plopped into the water and floated to the top of the sludge like a buoy. Hei glanced at it long enough to determine that it wasn't anything that would blow up in their faces, and it immediately lost his interest. His eyes scanned what they could see of the now slightly illuminated sewer. He squinted, thinking he saw an odd shadow farther down, but it was difficult to tell with the flames above flickering as they were. His gaze narrowed in on the suspicious object further, but, abruptly, Al gasped.

"What?" Hei shot out quickly, eyes darting away to every corner of the sewer, searching for an imminent attack.

Al pointed a shaking, leather hand towards the sewer sludge, and Hei's eyes followed. Ah. The object that had plummeted down from above earlier was—"A…hand," Al whispered, repulsed. Gluttony gave a particularly loud shriek at that moment, and Hei could barely hear him when he repeated, "A h-human hand."

"Don't think about it," Hei told him, his voice artificially calm. He clamped down on a small, but prickling worry that the hand had come from the other Elric brother. He kept his eyes firmly on the Homunculi he was electrocuting. "Just concentrate."

"Perhaps you should follow you own advice?" a high-pitched, voice suggested smoothly from behind, where the strange shadow had been moments earlier. He whirled around. Innumerable slitted eyes and abnormally wide smiles were staring gleefully at him from the darkness. Pride. "Finally, a decent source of light," the ethereal voice of Pride said, the grins widening in the shadows created by the light emanating down from the fire on the column.

"W-what is…that?" Al asked a bit shakily.

"Close off the sewer!" Hei barked at him. "Now!" There would be no time to run, and they probably shouldn't run anyways if it meant finishing off the two other Homunculi… the best option was to get rid of Pride's abilities. There was no way to fight Pride if his body wasn't here, but he in turn needed light in order to fight.

"Uh…O-okay!" Al said shaking himself and clapping his hand together. The toothy grins shining from the shadows widened further, and Hei knew immediately that Al wouldn't be fast enough. Jet black hands shot out towards the both of them and threw Al to the ground, but Hei had anticipated the attack and was already maneuvering out of the way. Al crashed to the sewer walk floor with an 'oof!,' the metallic clang reverberating off the sewer walls as more black hands shot at him—left—above—right—below—he barely dodged the last by a kind of last-minute sideways shuffle. The movement allowed him see out of the corner of his eye a strange irregularity—almost like a flicker—in his shadow…Behind! He dropped down, almost completely in sewage, and felt rather than saw a shadowy blade just scrape his back. He leaped away, hearing the splash of other dark blades missing their target and entering waste instead of flesh.

"Hei!" He could hear Al struggling under the black hands pinning him down. Hei dodged a shadowy blade aimed at his head, and noted in an absent-minded kind of way the strands of hair that the blade had sliced off floating past. "Let me go. Let me go!" The last shout was more like a roar, and Hei looked, startled, to the side to see pillars upon pillars of stone emerging from the earth and slamming into the shadowy arms and blades, which seemed to be, at the very least, startled into immobility for a moment.

"Concentrating?" an insidious, child-like voice asked him sweetly from behind. Hei felt a chill run down his spine and whirled around, finally drawing his knives, which glinted from the flickering light issuing from above. He felt something abruptly slam into his hastily prepared defenses; a metallic shriek rang out and sparks sprouted from the collision of the his knife and the shadowy blades—but then he pushed away from the attack, backing up a couple steps to regain his bearings. He was lucky to have stopped Pride's attack. Letting himself get distracted in a battlefield …what was he thinking? He tuned out from the rest of the battle and concentrated solely on Pride, who was issuing a volley of blows towards him.

Hei evaded and blocked every one. But it was almost too easy, and there was a strange pattern in Pride's attack. Every time he tried to make a move to the right—Hei shuffled to the right a bit to prove his theory, and sure enough, he was promptly blocked by a flurry of attacks that drove him in the opposite direction. Pride was trying to herd him…he was trying to get him to go towards the left, towards… the sewer sidewalk. Ah. Pride was trying to force him out of the water to make him stop electrocuting his two fellow Homunculi, which he had unconsciously continued while fending off Pride's attacks. He was barely managing Pride; he couldn't handle three Homunculi at once. And there was no way to attack Pride; it was only his shadow here, and Pride's real body could be anywhere in Central. He and Al would have to leave the sewer if they wanted to survive. And quickly.

He tried to charge past Pride towards Al, ducking and weaving around the blades that whirled around him, but had to retreat with several shallow wounds. One of the attacks seemed to have damaged his leg a bit, and he winced as he dodged Pride's attack more slowly than before, which earned him a slice on the cheek. He couldn't reach Al at this rate; he couldn't get past Pride. If he had just a moment, just to think up a counterattack—

"Hei!" He blinked. Giant, horizontal fists rods rocketed out from the sewer wall and slammed into Pride's jet-black appendages. A bedraggled metallic figure staggered towards him, looking more like a target practice at a shooting range than armor. Little pieces of metal fell off the armor as it ran, clapping its hands together, and as Hei saw the sparks dancing around Al's screeching, falling-apart armor, he finally had an idea.

"Make a shelter for us!" he shouted, backing up as fast as he possibly could towards Al—and the sewer sidewalk—while holding off Pride. Al slammed his hands to the ground moments before Pride severed what remained of the armor's right arm. Al fell back with a metallic squeal, but as the sparks that preceded alchemical reactions lit up the sidewalk, Hei knew that Al had succeeded in being able to initiate the alchemy. He saw out of the corner of his eyes a sturdy-looking structure burst out of the ground, and while he plunged his hand into the sewer water he barked to Al, "Get ready to close it off!"

"Idiotic," Pride commented lightly, but Hei didn't hear when Pride elaborated on their idiocy, because he was focusing on his hands, barely visible underneath the sewage, with all his might. Bai's explanation of her powers—now his—from so long ago echoed through his mind:

My ability is to manipulate electrons, and that includes breaking bonds between atoms and molecules, and forming new ones. It's, for all intents and purposes, one of the basic parts of all forms of alchemy.

He had never attempted this before, had never really tried to use his sister's powers in any way except to generate electricity. Even when he was a Contractor, there was just something so…inherently dangerous about using Bai's power to its full potential, like he was cheating some unknown system and would be severely punished if caught. And considering the part that Bai's use of non-electrical alchemy had played in her death...he felt that his past hesitance was understandable. But despite all this, and though he wasn't even really sure how to use his electron-controlling alchemy to break bonds beyond a hazy sort of visualization he had, it was better than no plan at all. Concentrate, concentrate…! Hei saw with a small flare of triumph a red spark flash from beneath the water, and Pride laughed.

"A spark? You really are getting soft." The jet-black blades materialized around him once again flew towards him; Hei rushed to get out of the way. Can't block it yet! He reminded himself forcefully as he splashed through the sewage towards Al's makeshift shelter and narrowly missed having his feet skewered for the second time that day. Can't use my knife, just in case…can't make a spark, not yet! Easier said than done, he thought grimly as he side-stepped yet another incoming blade. He saw out of the corner of his eye the shadowy blade he had just dodged hook around and come at him from behind. He ducked down, and as it passed overhead, jumped out of the sewer, onto the sidewalk—and into Al's hastily made shelter. The sound of Lust's and Gluttony's screams abruptly stopped as his feet left the water, creating an eerie quiet for one unending moment.

"Now!" he shouted at Al, shattering the silence as he slammed his knife down just below where the sole opening of the shelter was. He could see Pride's thousand inky arms reaching for them, and Lust, no longer being electrocuted, was shooting her fingernails at them as well. But he could also see the walls of the little shelter rapidly elongating, closing off the opening, and as soon as the walls closed around the middle of his knife, he slammed his hand onto the sliver of exposed steel on his and Al's side of the wall and shot a strong current of electricity through it. The sharp, cracking sound of a spark leaping from the exposed portion of the knife on Pride's side of the wall to some unknown object resounded through the entire sewer for a moment before it was echoed by a deafening explosion.

"Whoah!" Al yelled as the entire sewer shuddered. Although it had held firm during the explosion, chunks of the Al's conjured wall were already falling away. It was time to go.

"Get us out of the sewer!" Hei commanded Al.

"R-right!" With his remaining good arm, Al sketched out a quick circle, and they were at last in the infinitely purer night air of Central.

Hei quickly glanced around at their new surroundings—a veritable forest of columns that had erupted from the sewer upon the older Elric's escape. He could hear some frightened murmurings below—a crowd had probably gathered because of the explosions and noise—and he could make out two figures illuminated by the moonlight a few columns away.

"Ed! Winry!" Al exclaimed as he struggled to sit up with his mangled armored body. Winry looked up from where she was at Ed's side keeping pressure on his injured arm, startled. But Ed, who was sprawled on the ground, only twitched pathetically at the sound of Al's voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Winry told him in a deceptively even voice. "But…Ed's lost a lot of blood." Her voice quivered slightly on the last word.

"Winry—"

"We need to get going," Hei interrupted, hauling up what remained of Al, and the pair headed slowly towards the Elric brother and his friend with Al leaning heavily on Hei. "We have two injured to carry, and we need to hide."

"Injured?" Ed repeated in an abnormally quiet voice as he tried to sit up. "Al—"

"I can walk," Al interrupted defiantly and gave Hei what seemed to be meant to be a glare. Hei ignored him and drag him along.

"How'd you escape?" Ed breathed to them as Winry carefully put her arms underneath him, and lifted him, trying to keep him lying as flat as possible. Hei could see him clearly now, and he was far too pale.

Hei set Al down next to his brother as they reached them, and Al started immediately drawing a circle on the muddy pillar. Without taking his eyes—or rather, the eyeholes in his helmet—off the intricate circle he was creating, he said, "I think Hei decomposed the organic matter in the sewer into hydrocarbon gases…"A spark flickered in Al's completed circle, and they started to descend. Hei nodded distractedly, keeping his eyes on the crowd.

They reached the ground, and Ed felt strangely grateful for his lack of an arm—automail or flesh—at the moment, as it made it easier for Winry to carry him. And maybe it helped that he was so sho… Nope. That definitely wasn't a factor! He shook his head slightly; there were more important things to think about at the moment. Namely the fact that Hei had saved his little brother's life. He looked up slightly and muttered to Hei in his voice still scratchy from the fire underground, "Thanks."

Hei didn't respond. The crowd of people at the foot of the pillars stood apprehensively out of their way, seeming to not know what to do, and parted like water when their little group moved slowly through the crowd. Painfully slowly. There was no way they wouldn't get caught like this…Hei glanced surreptitiously at the crowd of confused Central citizens around them, watchful for the inevitable Homunculi counterattack.

"Maybe we should blow something else up? For a distraction?" Al muttered under his breath to Hei.

There was a slight pause. "Maybe," Hei said shortly. "But I doubt they want to attack us in a crowd. Driving away our only protection could get us killed."

Ed's eyes widened as he looked over Winry's shoulder. "Actually… I think they don't care about the crowd," he whispered.

Hei quickly followed his line of sight, up the columns. Lust was standing at the top of one of the columns, completely unharmed. It seemed they weren't the only ones to notice, heads were turning in the crowd to fearfully watch the newest arrival from the sewers. Suddenly, screams broke out as, in the flickering shadows of the still burning flame of the column, hundreds of unnaturally white eyes and teeth bloomed out of the darkness.

Keep moving, keep moving, Ling chanted to himself in his head as he brushed roughly past pedestrians, trying to get through the crowd and yet not give himself away by leaving a trail of knocked down Central citizens. Although…he suspected, considering who was tracking him down, that it wasn't going to matter too much anyways.

Why were there so many people out at this time of night anyways? And why was it so cold in summer? He chalked it up to an Amestrian oddity. After all, in what sort of sane country would have its ruler chase a foreign prince through the streets, trying to kill him? This place was incredibly backwards; Fuu had said so from the beginning—he cut off that train of thought immediately. Don't think. Just focus, and charm the local populace into letting him through.

"Excuse me, pardon me, innocent immigrant coming through," Ling said with a cheerful smile plastered to his face as he tried to push past a particularly densely packed group of elderly women discussing local gossip. He failed and was stuck between several particularly loud and oblivious ladies. He glanced in a panic at Lan Fan, who seemed to be fading fast after the arm injury.

"Oh, goodness, didn't you hear? There was a sighting of the Fullmetal Alchemist near the Xingese border! I heard it from a reliable source myself!"

"Excuse me!" he shouted, trying to elbow his way through. But he was trapped on all sides, and none of the women seemed to feel his increasingly desperate jab through their thick coats.

"There she goes again! Didn't you also tell us that your niece had heard that the Fuhrer was missing? Why, we just heard at the ceremony! He just has—"

"A very convenient cold!" the other woman finished triumphantly.

"It is odd. It's almost like he missed his own party," another woman added her input thoughtfully.

"Dear, I think—"

"Excuse me," Ling repeated, but this time in his best innocent voice, the kind he used when flirting with Winry. His change in tactics worked, all the women turned and looked at him. They shrieked when they saw the state of his clothes—actually, he was mildly surprised they hadn't smelled him earlier. He soldiered on anyways. "Do any of you ladies have a car? My friend had an accident, and…"

After several more exclamations over his and Lan Fan's state, they called over a cab (the driver gaped in horror at the filth slowly dripping off his clothes) and paid for the fee themselves. He clambered into the cab and gently laid Lan Fan on the seat and sat beside her before closing the cab door. So he had a way to possibly outrun the Fuhrer, but now what? Going to a hospital would just make him an easy target. But if he didn't then Lan Fan would… He shook his head. Focus, focus, focus, focus! He shouted to himself in his head. Think about that later. Think of a plan now. A plan…right.

"Incidentally, ladies," he leaned out the window as the cab started off in the direction of the hospital they had specified, and told the women with his most charming smile, like he was a regal prince, and not a sewage-covered foreigner who had just been carrying a half-dead woman on his shoulder through the streets, "I believe I saw the Fuhrer himself just behind me when I was coming this way. You should spread the word to have everyone congratulate him when they see him, since he missed his own…uh…celebration. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

It seemed to work. The group of ladies beamed at him as the coach started off in the direction of the hospital they had specified. Ling sighed and sank back into his seat as the women disappeared from view. He had no illusions of that feeble plan distracting the Fuhrer for long, or that it would even work, but maybe it would give them enough time to get Lan Fan's wound cleaned and bandaged before they escaped from the hospital. Maybe.

He sighed again and turned to look at Lan Fan, who had long since stopped speaking. Her face was a pasty gray, and her filthy bandages were probably doing her more harm than good. But he didn't dare redo them for fear that she would bleed to death—his clothes were just as bad, and he had nothing clean to wrap them in. He should've asked for something…too late now.

This was bad. No, it had been bad ever since he ran into that cold Xingese man and his silver-haired partner. Why did he…he should have…No, he had done what he had to! He had done what he had to for his country, and his bodyguards knew the risk! It was still his fault—stop thinking about it—Fuu was dead—stop and think! And Lan Fan was likely to follow soon…Focus, and think about this later! He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, but…it didn't change anything. Even if he thought about it more at a later time, the results would still be the same. Fuu would still be dead, he wouldn't have the Philosopher's Stone, he would have failed his country, and Lan Fan…

She's depending on me. If nothing else, he had to focus now for her sake. He had to keep himself together, and not…not…

A strangled sort of sound clawed its way out of his throat.

The cab driver gave him a quick anxious glance over his shoulder. "You okay back there?"

"Fine," Ling managed to get out in a semi-normal voice that still sounded choked. He had to stop thinking about this, he would have to put on an act again once they got to the hospital…

His head raised slightly as he heard something…belated celebrations, assumedly aimed at the Fuhrer were floating in from the cab window. Despite himself, a small, grim smile wormed its way to his face. The king who cared nothing for his people was being held up by his own subjects, however unintentionally.

"Long live the Fuhrer!"

"Long live Amestris!"

He tried to tune out the well-meaning Amestrians, and brushed Lan Fan's sweaty hair out of her face. But the comment of a nearby pedestrian coming from the opposite side of the street brought him up short.

"Isn't it cool that our nation's anniversary is right before an eclipse?"