Fullmetal Alchemist: The Midnight Eclipse

"It'd be wrong for us to go though." Alphonse pressed. He just didn't feel right leaving so abruptley. "What if something happens? What if they can't help us or we can't help them?" Alphonse was aware that Xioimara would be fine with Armstrong around and Ling as well as Xerom seemed well enough to defend themselves... He finally constructed his final chance at convincing Edward to stay for a little longer at least. "Xioimara said she doesn't want us to leave alone. We're the only people she doesn't want to throw away, I think.... How would you feel if the only people you felt comfortable around just left you behind?" He hoped his brother would understand what he was trying to say.

Alphonse doubted it would convince him much more but it was all he could think of on the spot.

 

"... Do what you want but I'm going to Resembool." Ed said. Truning his back to them, he left and didn't say a word on his way out. He slammed the door, but soft enough that Teacher nd everyone else wouldn't wake.
"Al, why's he like this all of a sudden?" Winry asked.

 

Alphonse shook his head. "I'm not sure... He's been edgy lately... I don't like it." Alphonse said. He was concerned about his brother. "We can't just let him take off like that though." Alphonse added, going after his brother.

Xioimara approached the front door of the house. She entered the house quietly and slowly made her way down the hallway. Xioimara looked up as Edward hurriedly made his way for the exit. "You're not leaving." Xioimara said, stepping in front of Edward. She met his eyes. He looked beyond pissed. "I don't know what your problem is but you're gonna have to drop it for a little while more." Xioimara lowered her head as she spoke. "You can't just go around taking it out on the people that care about you either..." She added. "We'll leave together. I'm not risking anymore injuries and I'm NOT getting left behind with Armstrong and those two from Xing." Xioimara voice became stronger as her anger started to bubble to the surface. He was being immature and most of all just pissed off for no reason. Two could play at that game. "Now cut it out and go apologize to Alphonse and Winry." She said. Her presence became stronger and dominant in a matter of moments.

She wasn't going to let him run off without thinking his problems through.

 

"Don't act like you're my mom. It just pisses me off even more." Ed told her. "And if you have a problem with that..." he said. He gave her a glare that meant he dared her to stop him.

Winry heard Xioimara's voice talk. "Oh great, she's talking to him again." she said. "Come on Al!" she marched downstairs in time to see Ed daring Xioimara to attack him.

 

Xioimara changed to her human form. She glared back at him. "I'm being responsible. Something you can't seem to comprehend." Xioimara stared him in the eyes, daring him to talk back to her one more time. "You're just going to march off like you own the whole goddamn world while there are two people that certainly give a shit about you back upstairs," Her rage snapped. She would have lashed out at him if she wasn't in her right mind. "Better yet, they are either your real family or just as fucking good as it. Stop being a brat and act your age before I smack it into you." Xioimara stood up taller, meeting Edward's eye level. "Stop trying to ruin what you have."

She almost completely hated him. He was at least sixteen and he was acting like he was eleven. She had nothing left but herself. He had his brother and from what she could see, a girl that cared about him a lot. He was acting like he carried the whole world on his shoulders. She narrowed her eyes as she dared him to try and move past her or even talk back.

Alphonse followed after Winry and met next to her at the bottom of the stairs. He looked at Xioimara as the teen tried to talk some sense into Edward for them. He was silently thankful for that. She didn't look too well though. She looked just about as angry as Edward. He was waiting for the room to explode with tension.

 

Ed grinned and turned around. "Fine.." he said. Suddenly, he clapped his hands together and summoned a lance. He slashed at Xioimara quickly. "Stay... out... of... my... business!!! he said while punctuating each word with a slashe. He had to push her outside so as not to wake the others.
"Oh, no!" Winry said.

 

OOC:// Ah hope this isn't too godmoddy sorry ><

Bic://
Xioimara dodged back at the wall and was caught off guard. She felt it slice open a new wound. She breathed hevily and glared at Edward. That was the last straw. Xioimara lunged forward at Edward with her teeth bared. She aimed to slam him into the ground. Xioimara grabbed him by the collar of the shirt, "Why do you gotta be such a brat, huh?" She screamed. She didn't care if this caused attention, outside or not. He needed sense knocked into him. "You gonna give 'em your problems now?!" Xioimara breathed heavily as she felt the pain tremor through her body. She was shaking badly but she didn't let up. She met his face, "Go on then! Run off with your tail between your legs!" Xioimara released Edward and backed away glaring at him.

"Go face your own goddamn problems without regard of your own blood's feelings." Xioimara glanced from Alphonse back to Edward. Edward wasn't her problem. Neither was Alphonse. No one was. She was always going to be on her own and for her own. "I don't give a shit anymore." Xioimara moved away from Edward and left down the streets away from the group. She wanted to hit him so badly. Xioimara was shaking with rage and disappointment.

"Brother, don't!" Alphonse cried as he attacked Xioimara. He let Xioimara fight back and watched as he left. Not sure of who he should side with. They were left in the awkward silence. Alphonse waited on his brother for the next move.

 

OOC" That's not really, compared to the stuff I do.

Ed looked from Xioimara, to Al, to Winry. "I've lived through four years of hell. Four. Years. This is why I didn't want you to go to Resembool with us." he turned to Al. "If you see Hoenheim, tell him he's a basterd. He left us and caused all this. I'm going to Resembool, come if you want. I honestly don't give a sh it anymore!" he turned around and went to the Train station. He'd be long gone by morning.

After Ed left. Winry dropped to her knees and started sobbing. This wasn't the Ed she knew.

 

Alphonse stared at Edward. What was wrong with him? "Teacher!" Alphonse called. He looked at Winry as she broke down. "Winry, don't cry...." Alphonse said, kneeling down beside her. "He's just really stressed..." Alphonse tried to reassure. Alphonse looked as Armstrong came to the doorway.

"I heard ruckus... What's happened?" Armstrong asked, taking noticed of a blood spilt on the ground from Xioimara new stomach wound. "This isn't good..."

"Xioimara tried to stop Brother from leaving and he attacked her." Alphonse said looking up at Armstrong. He was so confused. Why was this happening?

Xioimara pushed her hands in her pockets as she walked. Her stomach ached with new and old wounds. She was shaking badly with weakness. Her adrenaline was fading off gradually and reality was coming back to her. She didn't feel like moving much anymore. Xioimara made her way towards a secluded alleyway as the sun rose and leaned up against the wall. "They're making us fight..." Xioimara concluded as she dropped to the floor and pulled her knees close to her. "...This shouldn't be happening..."

 

Izumi made her way downstairs. She woke up at her usual time but she heard ruckus and she hurried. "What happened?" she asked. "Where's Edward?" she asked, looking around.
Winry couldn't stop cryin. This was too much. She hadn't seen Ed in so long. Why was this happening.

As Ed walked up to the train, he saw Sloth and Lust talking about where to go next. "Hey! You!" he said to Sloth. He didn't care about the other one. He just needed to know why she resembled his mother.

"Hm?" Sloth said, as she turned to see Edward.

 

"Oh, how perfect." Lust smiled. "Where are your other friends?" Lust asked. "That Wolf one quite precisley?" Lust felt she had a score to settle. If the little twerp was wandering off on his own like this and looking bent on starting a fight, something was up. Lust liked it.

"Where did they go?"

Alphonse comforted Winry the best he could. "Edward went off towards the train station and Xioimara left that way." Alphonse directed the opposite direction of Edward. "He's not himself...."

 

"I ditched my brother and those idiots. They aren't worth it." he turned to Sloth. "You. Juliet Douglas. Why do you look like my mom?" he asked.
"I look like her because your dear papa made me look like her. He took her body from her grave and used a Philosopher's stone to give me life." she lied.
"I'm not stupid. I know that's a lie."

Izumi helped Winry up. "Alphonse, see if you can stop Edward from leaving. Major, go find Xioimara please." she said as she helped Winry inside.

 

"Don't ask for the truth if you're not going to believe it." Lust looked at Sloth. She had a smirk pasted across her face. "I'm going to get even with the Wild Wolf." Lust announced. She was off in an instant to go see where Xioimara was. Maybe they had become split up in an effort to find Ed, if they were lucky.

Alphonse nodded to Izumi and left towards the train station to find his brother. He was confused on why this was happening. It was so unlike Brother to just abandon him. They were bound by blood and now he just left for no reason. What was wrong with him? WHat had gotten into him? Alphonse mulled over of what he would tell Edward when he found him.

Armstrong left in the direction that Alphonse had pointed out. The streets were still empty except for maybe one of two people here and there. He seized the opportunity of silence to call for Xioimara. She would be able to hear him if she was anywhere near by. This was unneeded though as he came to be a few blocks from Izumi's house. A cat shot out of the alleyway in front of him with a scream. Armstrong looked in the alleyway and picked up Xioimara. "What did he do to you?" Armstrong asked, noticing the blood stains on the ground next to her and the fresh wound on her belly.

"...Just tried to make him stay..." Xioimara muttered, in and out of conciousness as they started back for Izumi's house.

 

"Hey! You leave them alone!" Ed said. He ran to catch up with Lust. "They aren't split up. I know for a fact they're more concerned with Winry than they are with me. I also hurt Xioimara so they wouldn't follow me right away." he told her. He was seriously tired and wanted to go back to Resembool.

"Dammit Fullmetal..." Xoram said. "I've worked with Fullmetal before and this isn't like him. He only left because he had a feeling Al would follow him. He was wrong though. Unless Winry followed, Al wouldn't leave."
"You do have a point." Izumi said.
"He's confused about his mother's body and he wants to know the truth. Think about it, a lady that looks like his mom appears and then his mom's body's gone. Wouldn't you o the same?" she asked.

 

"Brother!" Alphonse shouted as he spotted his brother in the distance. He ran towards him but slowed a little as Sloth and Lust also became visible in the distance. "Leave him alone!" Alphonse warned Sloth and Lust as he came closer to his brother. Regardless of Sloth's looks he was aware she was still a threat.
Lust laughed. "I think I like you a little better now." She commented once he admitted to hurting Xioimara. "Way to hurt the people that care about you." She smiled. "Sloth, I'm going to see what is going on." Lust finally said. Lust gave Edward one last look as Alphonse neared them. "You should hurt him too." Lust giggled once more and was off to go see where Xioimara was.

"I overreacted..." Xioimara admitted. She opened her eyes a little bit to see where they were. "I was always told not to let anger get the best of me..."

"You were just doing what came to mind." Armstrong reassured her. "I prefer that you attacked him back rather than just letting him go," Armstrong started. "If Alphonse is lucky, you managed to stop him long enough for Alphonse to catch up. You've changed a lot since two years ago." Armstrong added as they neared the house.

"I can walk..." Xioimara told Armstrong as a little bit of her energy started to come back to her. Xioimara was let down on her feet. She felt aches and pains all over her body. "Its been two years already?" She tried to recall.

"Just about. I remember they almost refused to let you become a State Alchemist because you seemed scared of everything including your shadow." Armstrong said. He became quiet once more as they came up to Izumi's front door.

"Well I'm not anymore..." Xioimara added. She barely remembered that far back. She did her best to erase her past though being back in Dublith didn't help that fact at all. It only helped revive her memories if anything.

"We're back." Armstrong announced as he opened the door to enter the house.

 

Ed snapped. If Lust was going to hurt everyone he'd make sure he was hurt with them. He did the same as with Xioimara and summoned a lance.
Sloth changed her arms into water again and tried to whip Ed but he was moving too fast.

"Where's Edward?" Winry asked.

 

"Off to go find himself..." Xioimara muttered. She stiffly walked past the group towards the couch. She didn't have the energy to make it upstairs. Xioimara laid down slowly, her back to the group. She could care less about what was happening. Xioimara just wanted to go five minutes without getting stabbed, kicked, or hit. "I'm going," Xioimara started, trying to catch her breath. "To punch Mustang in the face when we get back to Central." Xioimara pulled her knees to her chest and closed her eyes.

"What do you care?" Lust taunted. She did find herself having fun in teasing the FullMetal Alchemist. She was becoming rather irritated as Edward seemed to be trying to protect them quite suddenly. She used the nearest object as a hostage. Lust's nails shot out and into Alphonse's armor. "Come any closer and I'll ruin that little seal that keeps your brother bound to this earth." She threatened. "Sloth, let's just go back." Lust finally said after silence came across the group. "We need to plan something instead of just attacking on the whim..." Lust said, "The children will become too accustomed to our attacks." She smiled at Edward.

Armstrong shook his head. "Alphonse will bring him back." He reassured Winry.

Alphonse slowly backed away from Lust. 'How does she know where my seal is?' He wondered, terrified for his life. "Brother," Alphonse started while Lust spoke to Sloth. "We should go back to the others... We can go together..." He tried to tell Edward without giving off too much of where they were headed.

 

"I'm sorry Al. I can't do that. I have to know about what happened to mom. Like I said, come with me. We're bound by blood and we don't need the others. We can go get Winry, but Armstrong, Ling, Xioimara, and Xoram aren't our concern." Ed said.

"Oh..." Winry said.

 

Alphonse sighed. He couldn't keep fighting this. His brother was bent on the idea of leaving. "Fine..." He finally agreed. "Let's go." Alphonse didn't feel right about leaving the others behind but he was sure everything would work out in the end. Alphonse tried to feel confident that everything would be okay if they left. He hoped the others wouldn't get attacked, or his brother as well as himself wouldn't get attacked. Besides, Resembol was a nice town. Everyone knows each other and no one wants to harm one another...

Perhaps, while they were there Alphonse would have the time to calm down and sort things out. Too much was happening for him to sort right from wrong.

 

"I have to go find them." Winry declared as she stood up and left.