Full Metal Alchemist - Haunted, Part 1
This was a story written a long time ago. Upon re-reading this, I cringe at the horrible style I used to write in. I describe things very explicitly, and even repeat myself a few times. Truly terrible writing. However, I like the idea that this story was supposed to embody.
Haunted was supposed to be a story about the clash of old superstitions against the hard science of Amestris. Someone has attacked Edward and rendered him comatose. Alphonse is missing. So, Winry decides to investigate and solve the case herself. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Winry is not as embroiled in science as the Elric brothers, and instead, uses her intuition and "sixth" sense to solve the mystery. Using the logic of the supernatural, Winry follows the clues that have been left behind, and eventually finds the murderer. The murderer is no one that Winry ever suspected.
Haunted was also supposed to be full of red herrings. Even in this short prologue and first chapter, a number of red herrings have already been planted. The story is supposed to be confusing, since it switches from Al's viewpoint to Winry's, and both of them see the facts very differently. There is also a misty, third point-of-view who may or may not be Alphonse. The story also talks about the Central government's past corruption, and of a past murder that was never resolved.
Although I find some of the concepts of the story interesting, I have been divorced from the Full Metal Alchemist fandom too long to be able to write it with the proper detail and passion this story deserves. So the story will have to remain in this ugly, unpolished and incomplete state.
Title: Haunted
Fandom: Full Metal Alchemist
Summary: Someone is murdering people with alchemy. Alphonse suspects government corruption. Winry suspects ghosts. And Ed? He knows the answer, but can no longer communicate it.
Characters: Winry Rockbell, Alphonse Elric, Edward Elric, OCs
Genre: Supernatural, adventure
Warnings: None
He inspected the small room carefully, briefcase in hand and wondering if he had forgotten anything. Everything seemed to be in its correct place, and he let a small sigh escape him as he wondered what his brother would say if he should wake up when he was gone. He’d probably get yelled at, but this was something that he had to do. If he just sat around doing nothing, waiting for those slowpokes at Central to solve the case, then his brother may never wake up. He had to take matters into his own hands, even if he didn’t have the jurisdiction to do such a thing. He looked at the form sleeping peacefully on the bed, and fought the urge to stay and watch over his brother. No. He had to leave. His brother wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Who knew? The next time he came back, it could be with the key to waking his brother up.
Still, he hovered uncertainly at the door, the house quiet with its sleeping occupants. They’d get mad at him when they found out that he had snuck out, but that was fine with him. He knew he was doing the right thing.
“I’ll be going now,” he whispered into the quiet room. He’d bring his brother back. He’d bring him back even if it was the last thing he’d ever do.
He snuck quietly downstairs, avoiding the creaky step, and finally escaping the house without waking Den up. It was a good thing Rizenpool was such a peaceful town, otherwise he would never feel safe leaving the door unlocked as he left the house, heading down the dirt road. The sun was barely rising over the hills, and he could see more than feel the cold of the morning air.
Walking at a brisk pace, he reached the train station before most of the people began stirring awake. He purchased the first ticket out of town and waited quietly on a bench for the train to arrive. The sun had already risen well over the hills, and he wished the train would arrive before Granny Pinako or Winry noticed his disappearance. He was getting jumpy with every person he thought resembled Granny Pinako or Winry, and it was with great relief when the train finally whistled into the station, a crowd of commuters and travelers already gathered to board the train.
Making his way into the train as unobtrusively as he could, he found an empty and rather solitary seat at the back of a passenger car, and settled himself in for the ride to Dublith. He wasn’t going there to visit his teacher, but instead had a little business to finish up there from last time. He took out a map from the briefcase, and quickly looked to see where he would have to switch trains to reach his intended destination. That settled, he decided to let his mind wander as he stared at the passing scenery, thinking all the while how less boring it would be if he had his brother here. At least he would have been able to play a game of cards.
Several hours later, he reached his destination, and stretching to get the kinks out of his joints, he walked out of the train station, the address of someone he needed to meet in his hands. He needed to get some answers from her, if he was going to get anywhere near helping his brother.
Walking through the familiar streets of Dublith, he couldn’t help but recognize several of the shops and their owners from his stay in this city when he was a child. Following the miniature map he had drawn on a scrap of paper, his feet eventually led him to unfamiliar streets in the wealthier portion of the city. Buildings became predominantly houses, and as he continued down the street, the houses were built farther and farther apart from each other, with more and more extensive gardens and front lawns.
He finally stopped in front of a veritable mansion, and gulped nervously before pushing the doorbell beside the heavy, metal gate. A moment later, he could hear someone speaking to him from within the house.
“May I please ask who it is?” the timid voice of a girl spoke up. For a second, he felt like running away back to Rizenpool and wait for the people at Central to clear the mess up, but he knew that they could never be as effective as a…private detective. That was right! He was like a private detective right now. One that would employ his skills to helping his brother! Now he just had to go in, collect more clues, and leave. That was all he had to do. No need to be frightened.
He took a deep breath.
“Good morning. I’m…”
----
“Alphonse Elric, you idiot!” Winry screamed as she saw the hasty farewell note that he had written. She glared at it in fury again just for good measure before crumpling the paper and throwing it into the trashcan. “You didn’t even write clearly enough! My name looks like ‘Wendy,’ for crying out loud!”
Pinako quietly prepared breakfast, ignoring her grandchild’s screeching. She knew that the girl was just waiting for a chance to complain about something, and Alphonse had given her the perfect outlet. Now she just wished that Edward would wake up so that Winry could go screech in his ear while she continued to make breakfast.
----
Chapter 1: Ghosts
It was really a very simple, yet beautiful thing. Just a little bit of chalk, a little bit of concentration, and it could do so many things. Its simplistic perfection was what had ensnared them. A circle was all that it was. A circle that gave such mystical light, enchanting and transforming that which it touched. They thought that they could do anything with it. They thought they could fulfill their wishes with it. But they never thought that things would turn out this way.
His eyes shifted from left to right as he looked at his next target from the shadows. That was right. That fat, good-for-nothing louse should strut around like a prideful cock while he still could. Soon, very soon, it would be all over for that man. Soon, he would once again have the chance to reunite with his brother. And even if that chance should fail, at least he would have done his brother the favor of avenging his death.
Death. That was right. His brother was dead. His brother wouldn’t smile at him anymore, wouldn’t joke with him, fight with him-he was dead. And it was all their fault. Well, he would make sure that they paid. Those dogs would all die by his alchemy, even if it was the last thing he ever did.
His metal hand creaked as he clenched his hand in a tight fist. His brother… What would he really say if he saw him now? Would he approve of his killing these guilty scum? No, of course he wouldn’t. His brother hated death. He would probably feel indignant and furious about his death, but not to the extent that he would want another’s death to assuage his own dissatisfaction. But it didn’t matter what his brother wanted or not. Because of them he would never know what his brother wanted.
He couldn’t stand it. Watching them lead their self-satisfying lives while his brother lay buried beneath the earth for the worms to eat. They needed to pay for their crimes. If not for killing his brother, then for the other numerous, clandestine crimes that they had committed. The justice of the state could not reach them. Well, in that case, he would be justice’s hand and smash these insects off the face of Amestris.
He turned away from the sight and began making his way to his temporary residence, the hollow armor clanking loudly in his own ears. They were a steady beat…the beat of his heart, if he had one. But these were all trivial matters now. He needed to concentrate. He needed to think of how he would ensnare the next victim.
Smash into pieces. His brother had been smashed into pieces. Laid on the railway tracks, unmoving, then the sudden moment when the train came and tore him to bits. He could only pray that his brother hadn’t been conscious at that moment. He could only hope that someone had enough mercy to kill his brother before laying him on top of the tracks to be sliced into so many pieces of human meat.
He would not be so merciful. He would kill them slowly. The slower, the better. Perhaps the slower the death, the higher the chance of recalling the soul from the dead, but even if he failed again, it would be all right. There would always be the next.
He could almost feel himself giddy with excitement as he thought about what he was about to do. Another chance for the experiment. Another chance for avenging his brother’s undeserved death. How many had he killed so far? He couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter. He would continue from one to the next, until there were none left. It would be exciting to see how far these little crimes reached. Did the president himself order these little crimes to take place? Well, he would find out. If an armor head could smile, then he would be grinning from ear to ear.
“Tonight,” he said, his voice barely a whisper, echoing in the empty alley. There was no trace of any living thing having been there. Then again, could he even be considered living?
----
She held his hand loosely in her own, his warmth comforting her a little. As long as his hand was warm, she felt reassured that he was still alive. So long as he was alive, he would wake up to her someday. He would smile for her someday. She smiled to herself, alone in the hospital room without a soul to disturb her. She would beat him senseless again someday.
She pulled her chair a little closer to the bed, laying her hand on his cool forehead. He didn’t react to her at all. She brushed the stray strands of hair away from his face, simply looking at him as he slept peacefully away. He rarely had such a long, peaceful slumber. He rarely had an expression free from guilt and worry. If it had been any other time, she would have been glad to let him sleep on, but this was a different circumstance. He needed to be awake. He needed to be that sharp minded alchemist that she knew. He needed to save Al.
“Ed? Ed, can you hear me?” she whispered into his ear. But it was like every other time that she had tried. He had no reaction. She wondered if he could hear her. She wondered what was going on in that unconscious mind of his. She wondered if she was being too hopeful, betting her life that he would reawaken, when in fact, he would never open his eyes again.
“You’ll come back to me again, won’t you, Ed?” she asked, tears starting to form in her eyes. “You’ll come back again, right? You would never admit it, but Granny and I are your home, aren’t we? You always came back to us. No matter how long you were gone, where you had gone, or why. You always came back. Always. This time isn’t any different. You’ll come back. I know you will. You’ll definitely come back.” She waited for her miracle words to take affect, but nothing happened. She began to laugh quietly to herself.
What did she think she would accomplish? She had hoped that the world held some magic and that Edward would awaken if she said the magic words. But Edward was right. This world was defined by science, and only science would reawaken him. Edward would laugh at her if he saw what she was doing.
She leaned against the back of the chair, shutting her eyes against the light in the room. Edward was a big idiot. If she had been the one that the attack had hit, then they would all be in a better situation. He would surely find a way to bring her back to the conscious world, and Al wouldn’t be labeled missing. The military would finally know the reason for all the recent killings, and they would be able to solve the mystery surrounding this case. The stupid brothers would go back to searching for their darn stone, and she would make an even greater automail arm and leg for Edward. Everything would return to normal for a while.
But, no. Edward Elric had to be his usual, idiotic self and jump in front of her to block the attack. The only thing that was left for her to do was watch helplessly as that man clapped his hands, then shove his palm into Edward’s abdomen, rendering him unconscious. And Edward had been unconscious ever since. They had arrested that man, suspecting him to be responsible for the serial murders that had been occurring, and for attacking a State Alchemist, but other than that, they didn’t have any real evidence against the man. The crime scenes all had an alchemy circle drawn there, but there were no fingerprints to be found. And the strange thing was the man they had caught wasn’t wearing any gloves. There were also no gloves found on him, or anywhere near the crime scenes.
Which was why Edward was an idiot. He had figured everything out before he had run there. He knew the answer to the mystery. And then he had to get himself knocked out, now unable to tell anyone what it was that he had finally figured out. Just to protect her. Just to protect useless, little old her.
She was touched by that gesture, and also a little angry. Did he think she would just stand there frozen while the enemy came at her? He was underestimating her too much! When danger came charging at her, she at least knew enough to get out of the way, unlike a certain other idiot.
“Miss Winry?” Someone knocked softly at the door. She turned her head a little, trying to recognize the feminine voice. As far as she knew, Riza Hawkeye and Maria Ross didn’t have that kind of soft, motherly voice that she was hearing now. She wondered if it was the nurse. But then, why would the nurse knock at the door instead of directly coming in?
“Miss Winry Rockbell?” the voice asked again, this time sounding a little uncertain of herself.
“Come in,” Winry said, not bothering to quiet her voice. It wasn’t like Edward would wake up just because she was being noisy.
The door opened slowly as a rather pretty woman walked into the room. Her long blond hair was twirled into a bun on her head, and a simple jacket covered the nurse’s uniform that she was wearing. Her light blue eyes smiled at Winry at she carefully closed the door quietly behind her. Hanging over her arm was a long overcoat and a small purse. She looked like a nurse that was about to get off from work.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the woman said softly, approaching Winry with an outstretched hand. Winry automatically shook it. “I’m Wendy Rockwell. I’m one of the nurses here,” she added, stating the obvious.
“I’m Winry Rockbell,” Winry replied, the similarities in their names a little strange to her. Still, it was better than having the exact same name. That would make for a rather peculiar situation.
“I’ve heard about you from Edward and Alphonse,” the other woman said, pulling a chair next to Winry. She sat down lightly, and Winry felt a little envious of how ladylike the other woman was. “Has Edward shown any response yet?”
“No, not yet,” Winry shook her head, eyeing the nurse a little curiously. “Um, excuse me, but how exactly does Ed and Al know you?” She hoped she didn’t sound rude, or worse yet, jealous. She was almost one-hundred percent sure that Edward would never like someone simply because she was pretty, or in this case, beautiful.
“I’m the nurse that usually does the medical check-up for Edward,” she smiled kindly, glancing briefly at Edward’s direction. “Perhaps you already know, but military personnel are required to have a medical check-up every year. Since there aren’t enough doctors to spare, usually the nurses do the check-up. If there are any potential problems, we nurses then report to the doctors here.”
“So you’ve been doing Ed’s check-ups,” Winry repeated, wondering how the nurse would handle Edward if there was a problem. Edward was not exactly someone who loved getting shots. It was a miracle that he was always so healthy. Well, getting into fights didn’t exactly count.
“I would also do Alphonse’s, but he seems to have a great aversion to taking off that armor of his,” the nurse laughed a little, obviously remembering something from the past. Well, of course Alphonse wouldn’t take off his armor. If he took it off, there wouldn’t be a body to do the check-up on. Winry wondered where Alphonse was right now, and could only smile weakly at the woman’s laughter.
“Miss Winry?” she asked a little hesitantly. Winry tilted her head slightly, wondering what it was that the woman wanted to ask. “Aren’t your parents worried about you?” At Winry’s puzzled expression she continued on. “I mean to say, I’m not the nurse assigned to Edward right now, so I can’t check this room every day, but from the times that I’ve seen you in the hallway, you seem to have been here since Edward was hospitalized. Aren’t your parents worried that you’ve been gone from home so long?”
“No, not really,” Winry replied nervously, not informing the nurse that she no longer had parents. “My grandmother knows I’m here. And I’m currently staying at a friend’s house.”
“You have a friend in Central? That’s wonderful,” the nurse said, smiling in relief. “I was afraid that you were here without your parents’ permission. I didn’t want to have to call your parents to pick you up. But even so,” Wendy said, reaching into her purse, “you need to make sure you stay healthy. I can’t have a visitor getting sick while visiting one of our patients. Here,” she handed a small bottle to Winry. “These are supplemental vitamins. Take one a day after meals. Edward would throw a fit if he found you sick when he woke up,” she smiled, closing her purse with a click.
“Um, thank you,” Winry said, feeling a little weird to be receiving something from someone she barely knew. “But I can’t really accept this gift.”
“You needn’t be so polite,” Wendy said, standing up and pulling the overcoat on. “Your parents did me the same favor when I was a small child, so I thought that I should at least give a little something back to their daughter.”
“You knew my parents?” Winry asked, the vitamins forgotten in her hands.
“Yes, I know your parents,” the nurse replied. “They’re very kind people. Be sure to give them my regards when you go back home.” She then walked out of the room quietly, shutting the door behind her carefully. Winry sat in a daze, wondering if it was possible that the nurse didn’t know her parents were already dead. The nurse had said that she was a little girl when her parents had helped her, so perhaps she really didn’t know the Rockbell Doctors had long since passed on. That would be another point that Winry envied. How nice it was to live in such ignorance! That nurse had never felt the pain that Winry had felt when she lost her parents, and she decided to keep it that way. There was no reason she had to rain on the nurse’s sunny life with news of her parents’ death. She bet that a person with such a sunny expression like the nurse had never experienced the pain of losing a loved one.
Suddenly, someone knocked at the door again, this time with a steady, firm, and quick beat. Winry could bet that it was someone from the military this time.
“Winry, I’m coming in, whether you’re ready or not!” came the sergeant’s voice as he opened the door loudly. Winry could only sigh at him as he entered grinning. She couldn’t muster the energy to yell at him like the first time she had done when he had made such a statement. For such an honest looking guy, his head was sure in the gutter. The “subtle” hints he had dropped when he first found her there were not one bit amusing to her.
“Sergeant Brosh, is there something I can help you with?” Winry asked politely, ignoring his previous statement.
“The military has decided that it would probably be safer for the Fullmetal Alchemist to have a guard for the remainder of his stay at the hospital, just in case that serial killer decides to come and finish him off,” he said, this time seriously. “And since I’ve had experience guarding the Fullmetal Alchemist before, I’ve been assigned to this job again.”
“A guard?” Winry asked, feeling a little confused. “I thought you already caught the man who’s responsible for the recent deaths?”
“Well, you see, there isn’t any real evidence that the guy we caught is actually the serial killer,” Brosh said a little shyly.
“What?” Winry shouted, jumping out of her chair. “I already told you that guy tried to kill me! And look what he did to Ed!” she said, pointing at the unconscious alchemist.
“It could all just be coincidence,” Brosh shrugged helplessly. “Maybe he had a grudge against you.”
“I’ve never seen that man before in my life!” Winry shouted indignantly.
“I know it doesn’t make any sense,” Brosh said, shaking his head. “It’s most reasonable to say that the reason he attacked you was because he thought you were Tina Valencia. But we simply have no evidence. No one has ever seen the killer’s face other than you, Edward and Alphonse, and then, that was only during one occasion. We can’t confirm that he’s really the serial killer we’ve been after. The most we can do is charge the man for attacking a State Alchemist.”
“But he was using alchemy when he tried to kill me,” Winry insisted. “Doesn’t that count for something? And didn’t you say that there are records of that man having been to all the places where the crimes have taken place?”
“But the man doesn’t know how to use alchemy,” Brosh said quietly, hoping to calm her down a little. His words had the opposite effect.
“ ‘Doesn’t know how to use alchemy?’” Winry asked in disbelief. “Then what the heck was he using to attack me with? How do you explain the damage caused to the building by alchemy? You think Ed was just showing off his alchemy recklessly?”
“Please calm down,” Brosh said nervously, hoping a nurse wasn’t going to run in and yell at him. “We’ve tested the man, but he doesn’t have any alchemy skills at all. He couldn’t use alchemy to save his life.”
“What?” Winry shrieked disbelievingly. A nurse stuck her head inside the room and demanded politely that they shut up. That seemed to calm Winry down a little.
“I’ll tell you something else if you promise not to yell my ear off,” Brosh said quietly. “Technically, I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this, but you do have a right to know…”
“What is it?” Winry asked, somewhat calm. She had known that it wouldn’t be easy to find evidence that the man was the killer, but she hadn’t expected him to get off so easily. He was supposed to be charged with attacking a State Alchemist using alchemy, but now it turned out that he didn’t even know alchemy. So how on earth had he been attacking Ed?
“This guy,” Brosh whispered, almost secretively, “he doesn’t remember anything from this past year. He claims that the last thing he remembers doing was going to bed. We tried to see if he was lying by making all sorts of casual comments about the past year, then listening to his responses, but he really has no idea of what’s happened at all.”
“And you believe this lie?” asked Winry incredulously. Oh, this was rich. First, he didn’t know alchemy, and now, he didn’t have memories of the past year. The alchemy thing was pushing it, but the memory thing was totally bogus. She couldn’t believe that the military were actually buying that guy’s story.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true,” Brosh insisted.
“And the next thing you’ll be telling me is that Colonel Mustang is actually a woman,” Winry said sarcastically. “If you’re trying to comfort me, Sergeant Brosh, you’re hardly doing an adequate job.” She turned away from the sergeant, instead opting to stare at Edward’s unresponsive face.
“I’ve told you all that I know,” Brosh sighed in resignation. Suddenly, he straightened himself, standing with his back straight, and looked every part like a member of the military. “As the guard assigned for the Fullmetal Alchemist’s safety, I am under orders to allow no one to approach the Fullmetal Alchemist who has not been approved by either the military or the Fullmetal Alchemist himself. So, Miss, please move away from the Fullmetal Alchemist, or I will be forced to remove you.” Winry could only gape at him as he said those words, wondering if he was joking.
“You’re not serious, are you?” she asked when Brosh failed to replace his serious face with the friendly face that she had become accustomed to. He gave her a curt nod and glanced at the door, his body language telling her to get out.
“This isn’t funny,” Winry said, anxiety beginning to spread through her.
“This isn’t a joke,” Brosh calmly replied. “Now please leave.”
“I’m his friend!” she shouted into the sergeant’s face. He seemed undisturbed by her outburst. “You can’t just tell me to leave!”
“I’m sorry, but this is a military affair now,” Brosh said mercilessly, ignoring her pleading eyes. “Friends and relatives will have time to visit him once the case is over.”
“You mean, even Al can’t see him?” Winry almost screamed. “Those brothers are inseparable!”
“Alphonse Elric has been missing for a while, so we cannot trust his presence with the Fullmetal Alchemist until this case is solved and the serial killer is safely behind bars.” In that one moment, Winry felt like taking her wrench and hitting the sergeant instead of the Elric brothers, her usual target. Brosh obviously noticed her tightly clenched fist, but said nothing.
“Fine,” Winry finally conceded, stomping off towards the door. The last thing that Edward needed was for her to be jailed just because she was sitting next to him. She would hear no end to his teasing if that ever happened. And then people would get the wrong idea. They might actually think that she lo-lo-err, that is, she cared deeply for that idiot, which of course she did, but she didn’t care for him that way.
“Winry,” Brosh said suddenly, interrupting her storming out of the room. “Finding Alphonse might be the best clue to figuring out what exactly happened to Edward.” He stared at her pointedly, as if there was something she was supposed to understand. She stared back, clueless.
“I don’t want you to put yourself in any danger,” he sighed, forced to say his thoughts since she didn’t understand his silence. Sometimes, things just had to be said to be understood. “I don’t want you to be running around looking for the serial killer. Leave that to the military. It would be best for you to just go home, but if you absolutely have to do something, go find Alphonse. I’m sure you’ll be safe with him.”
“How exactly do you expect me to find Alphonse?” she asked, not accepting this form of Brosh’s apology for his words earlier. The only way to find Alphonse was to go back to the place where she had last seen him and start from there. But the military had already quartered the place off from the public, so where did Brosh expect her to look for Alphonse?
“I’d much rather you go home and await news from us,” Brosh said honestly. “You’re still a child, after all. I only made that suggestion so that you would have something to do if you’re too worried to stay put.”
“Either way, you won’t let me stay by Ed’s side,” Winry asked, stating the question more than asking it. Brosh nodded firmly. Winry let out a long suffering sigh and headed towards the door once more. “Bye, Sergeant Brosh,” she said in a monotone, shutting the door behind her. Outside, she leaned against the door, wondering what to do next. He was right. She was too worried about Edward to simply go back and pretend that nothing had happened. On the other hand, she couldn’t sneak in and stay by Edward’s side with Sergeant Brosh there, not to mention it wouldn’t really help matters. The only choice she was left with was to find Alphonse, but that was a choice that she didn’t really want to make.
Brosh had thought that she would be safe once she found Alphonse, but she wondered if that was really case. If she recalled carefully that night, she remembered that something had been wrong with Alphonse. She had been shouting at Alphonse to help her, to help Edward, but he acted like he didn’t even know her. And then he had run off into the darkness, leaving her alone with an unconscious Edward and a rather stupefied suspect. It seemed that Alphonse had been possessed. She could feel a small smile crawl over her face at that thought. Possessed? She knew exactly what Edward would say to that.
“I don’t believe in ghosts!” she remembered how boldly he shouted back when they were children. He would definitely still say the same thing now, except this time with the added reasoning that he was a scientist, and he didn’t believe anything that could not be explained by science. Winry scoffed a little at idea. There were just some things in the world that science could never explain. She truly believed that with all her heart. But a murder mystery was not one of those things.
Winry walked down the busy hallway, wondering if she should heed Brosh’s words. She could follow his advice and attempt to find Alphonse, or…she could do something that none of them expected her to do. She could try to find the cause for Edward’s unmoving state. Sure, the doctors and officers had claimed that the reason Edward was unconscious was because of a battle injury, but she believed that it was something else. It had to be something else. Edward had never fallen unconscious this long because of a little punch in the gut. Thinking of the times when she had slammed her wrench into his stomach as a child, that little punch was nothing.
No, there had to be another reason, and it probably had to do with Alphonse’s disappearance. She bit her lip anxiously as she wondered what the reason could be. No matter what angle she looked at the situation from, only one explanation made sense to her.
Ghosts.
No one would believe her if she told them her suspicions, but she didn’t blame them. In this day and age, when religion was almost a joke in Amestris, who would believe in the existence of ghosts? But she was almost certain that that was the explanation. If she explained everything from a superstitious angle, everything would fall into place. The reason for Alphonse’s strange behavior and subsequent absence could easily be deduced. He was possessed. That was why he was acting strange. And the spirit that possessed him had wanted a body to fulfill his own purposes, which was why Alphonse had gone missing. And the same spirit would be the one who caused Edward to fall unconscious. Using the ghostly powers that vengeful spirits have, the ghost must have cast some sort of curse on Edward because Edward was too close to the truth.
She stopped outside on the steps of the hospital, wondering how to pursue this new discovery. If a ghost really was causing the Elric brothers misfortune, then where had the ghost come from and why had it chosen the Elric brothers as the target? She thought about that for a moment. Perhaps the ghost didn’t really have a choice in the matter. The circumstances must have been such that it was easier for the ghost to use the brothers instead of someone else. That would explain why the ghost had chosen to possess Alphonse instead of Edward. If she had been the ghost, she would have chosen to possess a real body instead of an empty armor, but she supposed that if she had no choice, possessing an empty armor was better than nothing.
She reached the street in front of the hospital, trying to decide whether to go left or right. If she went left, she would eventually end up at the Hughes house. If she went right, she could try to infiltrate the military base and get some answers from the man that had attacked Edward.
“What am I thinking?” she laughed out loud, shaking her head at her own thoughts. Infiltrate the military base? She wasn’t that hotheaded, was she? This wasn’t something that one just decided on a whim. That was the difference between Edward and her. She actually thought things out.
“So all I have to do is steal a female uniform,” she nodded to herself. Yep, she finished thinking. Time to infiltrate the base. “Besides,” she thought to herself, “right is right.”
Chapter 2
Haunted was supposed to be a story about the clash of old superstitions against the hard science of Amestris. Someone has attacked Edward and rendered him comatose. Alphonse is missing. So, Winry decides to investigate and solve the case herself. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Winry is not as embroiled in science as the Elric brothers, and instead, uses her intuition and "sixth" sense to solve the mystery. Using the logic of the supernatural, Winry follows the clues that have been left behind, and eventually finds the murderer. The murderer is no one that Winry ever suspected.
Haunted was also supposed to be full of red herrings. Even in this short prologue and first chapter, a number of red herrings have already been planted. The story is supposed to be confusing, since it switches from Al's viewpoint to Winry's, and both of them see the facts very differently. There is also a misty, third point-of-view who may or may not be Alphonse. The story also talks about the Central government's past corruption, and of a past murder that was never resolved.
Although I find some of the concepts of the story interesting, I have been divorced from the Full Metal Alchemist fandom too long to be able to write it with the proper detail and passion this story deserves. So the story will have to remain in this ugly, unpolished and incomplete state.
Title: Haunted
Fandom: Full Metal Alchemist
Summary: Someone is murdering people with alchemy. Alphonse suspects government corruption. Winry suspects ghosts. And Ed? He knows the answer, but can no longer communicate it.
Characters: Winry Rockbell, Alphonse Elric, Edward Elric, OCs
Genre: Supernatural, adventure
Warnings: None
He inspected the small room carefully, briefcase in hand and wondering if he had forgotten anything. Everything seemed to be in its correct place, and he let a small sigh escape him as he wondered what his brother would say if he should wake up when he was gone. He’d probably get yelled at, but this was something that he had to do. If he just sat around doing nothing, waiting for those slowpokes at Central to solve the case, then his brother may never wake up. He had to take matters into his own hands, even if he didn’t have the jurisdiction to do such a thing. He looked at the form sleeping peacefully on the bed, and fought the urge to stay and watch over his brother. No. He had to leave. His brother wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon. Who knew? The next time he came back, it could be with the key to waking his brother up.
Still, he hovered uncertainly at the door, the house quiet with its sleeping occupants. They’d get mad at him when they found out that he had snuck out, but that was fine with him. He knew he was doing the right thing.
“I’ll be going now,” he whispered into the quiet room. He’d bring his brother back. He’d bring him back even if it was the last thing he’d ever do.
He snuck quietly downstairs, avoiding the creaky step, and finally escaping the house without waking Den up. It was a good thing Rizenpool was such a peaceful town, otherwise he would never feel safe leaving the door unlocked as he left the house, heading down the dirt road. The sun was barely rising over the hills, and he could see more than feel the cold of the morning air.
Walking at a brisk pace, he reached the train station before most of the people began stirring awake. He purchased the first ticket out of town and waited quietly on a bench for the train to arrive. The sun had already risen well over the hills, and he wished the train would arrive before Granny Pinako or Winry noticed his disappearance. He was getting jumpy with every person he thought resembled Granny Pinako or Winry, and it was with great relief when the train finally whistled into the station, a crowd of commuters and travelers already gathered to board the train.
Making his way into the train as unobtrusively as he could, he found an empty and rather solitary seat at the back of a passenger car, and settled himself in for the ride to Dublith. He wasn’t going there to visit his teacher, but instead had a little business to finish up there from last time. He took out a map from the briefcase, and quickly looked to see where he would have to switch trains to reach his intended destination. That settled, he decided to let his mind wander as he stared at the passing scenery, thinking all the while how less boring it would be if he had his brother here. At least he would have been able to play a game of cards.
Several hours later, he reached his destination, and stretching to get the kinks out of his joints, he walked out of the train station, the address of someone he needed to meet in his hands. He needed to get some answers from her, if he was going to get anywhere near helping his brother.
Walking through the familiar streets of Dublith, he couldn’t help but recognize several of the shops and their owners from his stay in this city when he was a child. Following the miniature map he had drawn on a scrap of paper, his feet eventually led him to unfamiliar streets in the wealthier portion of the city. Buildings became predominantly houses, and as he continued down the street, the houses were built farther and farther apart from each other, with more and more extensive gardens and front lawns.
He finally stopped in front of a veritable mansion, and gulped nervously before pushing the doorbell beside the heavy, metal gate. A moment later, he could hear someone speaking to him from within the house.
“May I please ask who it is?” the timid voice of a girl spoke up. For a second, he felt like running away back to Rizenpool and wait for the people at Central to clear the mess up, but he knew that they could never be as effective as a…private detective. That was right! He was like a private detective right now. One that would employ his skills to helping his brother! Now he just had to go in, collect more clues, and leave. That was all he had to do. No need to be frightened.
He took a deep breath.
“Good morning. I’m…”
----
“Alphonse Elric, you idiot!” Winry screamed as she saw the hasty farewell note that he had written. She glared at it in fury again just for good measure before crumpling the paper and throwing it into the trashcan. “You didn’t even write clearly enough! My name looks like ‘Wendy,’ for crying out loud!”
Pinako quietly prepared breakfast, ignoring her grandchild’s screeching. She knew that the girl was just waiting for a chance to complain about something, and Alphonse had given her the perfect outlet. Now she just wished that Edward would wake up so that Winry could go screech in his ear while she continued to make breakfast.
----
Chapter 1: Ghosts
It was really a very simple, yet beautiful thing. Just a little bit of chalk, a little bit of concentration, and it could do so many things. Its simplistic perfection was what had ensnared them. A circle was all that it was. A circle that gave such mystical light, enchanting and transforming that which it touched. They thought that they could do anything with it. They thought they could fulfill their wishes with it. But they never thought that things would turn out this way.
His eyes shifted from left to right as he looked at his next target from the shadows. That was right. That fat, good-for-nothing louse should strut around like a prideful cock while he still could. Soon, very soon, it would be all over for that man. Soon, he would once again have the chance to reunite with his brother. And even if that chance should fail, at least he would have done his brother the favor of avenging his death.
Death. That was right. His brother was dead. His brother wouldn’t smile at him anymore, wouldn’t joke with him, fight with him-he was dead. And it was all their fault. Well, he would make sure that they paid. Those dogs would all die by his alchemy, even if it was the last thing he ever did.
His metal hand creaked as he clenched his hand in a tight fist. His brother… What would he really say if he saw him now? Would he approve of his killing these guilty scum? No, of course he wouldn’t. His brother hated death. He would probably feel indignant and furious about his death, but not to the extent that he would want another’s death to assuage his own dissatisfaction. But it didn’t matter what his brother wanted or not. Because of them he would never know what his brother wanted.
He couldn’t stand it. Watching them lead their self-satisfying lives while his brother lay buried beneath the earth for the worms to eat. They needed to pay for their crimes. If not for killing his brother, then for the other numerous, clandestine crimes that they had committed. The justice of the state could not reach them. Well, in that case, he would be justice’s hand and smash these insects off the face of Amestris.
He turned away from the sight and began making his way to his temporary residence, the hollow armor clanking loudly in his own ears. They were a steady beat…the beat of his heart, if he had one. But these were all trivial matters now. He needed to concentrate. He needed to think of how he would ensnare the next victim.
Smash into pieces. His brother had been smashed into pieces. Laid on the railway tracks, unmoving, then the sudden moment when the train came and tore him to bits. He could only pray that his brother hadn’t been conscious at that moment. He could only hope that someone had enough mercy to kill his brother before laying him on top of the tracks to be sliced into so many pieces of human meat.
He would not be so merciful. He would kill them slowly. The slower, the better. Perhaps the slower the death, the higher the chance of recalling the soul from the dead, but even if he failed again, it would be all right. There would always be the next.
He could almost feel himself giddy with excitement as he thought about what he was about to do. Another chance for the experiment. Another chance for avenging his brother’s undeserved death. How many had he killed so far? He couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter. He would continue from one to the next, until there were none left. It would be exciting to see how far these little crimes reached. Did the president himself order these little crimes to take place? Well, he would find out. If an armor head could smile, then he would be grinning from ear to ear.
“Tonight,” he said, his voice barely a whisper, echoing in the empty alley. There was no trace of any living thing having been there. Then again, could he even be considered living?
----
She held his hand loosely in her own, his warmth comforting her a little. As long as his hand was warm, she felt reassured that he was still alive. So long as he was alive, he would wake up to her someday. He would smile for her someday. She smiled to herself, alone in the hospital room without a soul to disturb her. She would beat him senseless again someday.
She pulled her chair a little closer to the bed, laying her hand on his cool forehead. He didn’t react to her at all. She brushed the stray strands of hair away from his face, simply looking at him as he slept peacefully away. He rarely had such a long, peaceful slumber. He rarely had an expression free from guilt and worry. If it had been any other time, she would have been glad to let him sleep on, but this was a different circumstance. He needed to be awake. He needed to be that sharp minded alchemist that she knew. He needed to save Al.
“Ed? Ed, can you hear me?” she whispered into his ear. But it was like every other time that she had tried. He had no reaction. She wondered if he could hear her. She wondered what was going on in that unconscious mind of his. She wondered if she was being too hopeful, betting her life that he would reawaken, when in fact, he would never open his eyes again.
“You’ll come back to me again, won’t you, Ed?” she asked, tears starting to form in her eyes. “You’ll come back again, right? You would never admit it, but Granny and I are your home, aren’t we? You always came back to us. No matter how long you were gone, where you had gone, or why. You always came back. Always. This time isn’t any different. You’ll come back. I know you will. You’ll definitely come back.” She waited for her miracle words to take affect, but nothing happened. She began to laugh quietly to herself.
What did she think she would accomplish? She had hoped that the world held some magic and that Edward would awaken if she said the magic words. But Edward was right. This world was defined by science, and only science would reawaken him. Edward would laugh at her if he saw what she was doing.
She leaned against the back of the chair, shutting her eyes against the light in the room. Edward was a big idiot. If she had been the one that the attack had hit, then they would all be in a better situation. He would surely find a way to bring her back to the conscious world, and Al wouldn’t be labeled missing. The military would finally know the reason for all the recent killings, and they would be able to solve the mystery surrounding this case. The stupid brothers would go back to searching for their darn stone, and she would make an even greater automail arm and leg for Edward. Everything would return to normal for a while.
But, no. Edward Elric had to be his usual, idiotic self and jump in front of her to block the attack. The only thing that was left for her to do was watch helplessly as that man clapped his hands, then shove his palm into Edward’s abdomen, rendering him unconscious. And Edward had been unconscious ever since. They had arrested that man, suspecting him to be responsible for the serial murders that had been occurring, and for attacking a State Alchemist, but other than that, they didn’t have any real evidence against the man. The crime scenes all had an alchemy circle drawn there, but there were no fingerprints to be found. And the strange thing was the man they had caught wasn’t wearing any gloves. There were also no gloves found on him, or anywhere near the crime scenes.
Which was why Edward was an idiot. He had figured everything out before he had run there. He knew the answer to the mystery. And then he had to get himself knocked out, now unable to tell anyone what it was that he had finally figured out. Just to protect her. Just to protect useless, little old her.
She was touched by that gesture, and also a little angry. Did he think she would just stand there frozen while the enemy came at her? He was underestimating her too much! When danger came charging at her, she at least knew enough to get out of the way, unlike a certain other idiot.
“Miss Winry?” Someone knocked softly at the door. She turned her head a little, trying to recognize the feminine voice. As far as she knew, Riza Hawkeye and Maria Ross didn’t have that kind of soft, motherly voice that she was hearing now. She wondered if it was the nurse. But then, why would the nurse knock at the door instead of directly coming in?
“Miss Winry Rockbell?” the voice asked again, this time sounding a little uncertain of herself.
“Come in,” Winry said, not bothering to quiet her voice. It wasn’t like Edward would wake up just because she was being noisy.
The door opened slowly as a rather pretty woman walked into the room. Her long blond hair was twirled into a bun on her head, and a simple jacket covered the nurse’s uniform that she was wearing. Her light blue eyes smiled at Winry at she carefully closed the door quietly behind her. Hanging over her arm was a long overcoat and a small purse. She looked like a nurse that was about to get off from work.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the woman said softly, approaching Winry with an outstretched hand. Winry automatically shook it. “I’m Wendy Rockwell. I’m one of the nurses here,” she added, stating the obvious.
“I’m Winry Rockbell,” Winry replied, the similarities in their names a little strange to her. Still, it was better than having the exact same name. That would make for a rather peculiar situation.
“I’ve heard about you from Edward and Alphonse,” the other woman said, pulling a chair next to Winry. She sat down lightly, and Winry felt a little envious of how ladylike the other woman was. “Has Edward shown any response yet?”
“No, not yet,” Winry shook her head, eyeing the nurse a little curiously. “Um, excuse me, but how exactly does Ed and Al know you?” She hoped she didn’t sound rude, or worse yet, jealous. She was almost one-hundred percent sure that Edward would never like someone simply because she was pretty, or in this case, beautiful.
“I’m the nurse that usually does the medical check-up for Edward,” she smiled kindly, glancing briefly at Edward’s direction. “Perhaps you already know, but military personnel are required to have a medical check-up every year. Since there aren’t enough doctors to spare, usually the nurses do the check-up. If there are any potential problems, we nurses then report to the doctors here.”
“So you’ve been doing Ed’s check-ups,” Winry repeated, wondering how the nurse would handle Edward if there was a problem. Edward was not exactly someone who loved getting shots. It was a miracle that he was always so healthy. Well, getting into fights didn’t exactly count.
“I would also do Alphonse’s, but he seems to have a great aversion to taking off that armor of his,” the nurse laughed a little, obviously remembering something from the past. Well, of course Alphonse wouldn’t take off his armor. If he took it off, there wouldn’t be a body to do the check-up on. Winry wondered where Alphonse was right now, and could only smile weakly at the woman’s laughter.
“Miss Winry?” she asked a little hesitantly. Winry tilted her head slightly, wondering what it was that the woman wanted to ask. “Aren’t your parents worried about you?” At Winry’s puzzled expression she continued on. “I mean to say, I’m not the nurse assigned to Edward right now, so I can’t check this room every day, but from the times that I’ve seen you in the hallway, you seem to have been here since Edward was hospitalized. Aren’t your parents worried that you’ve been gone from home so long?”
“No, not really,” Winry replied nervously, not informing the nurse that she no longer had parents. “My grandmother knows I’m here. And I’m currently staying at a friend’s house.”
“You have a friend in Central? That’s wonderful,” the nurse said, smiling in relief. “I was afraid that you were here without your parents’ permission. I didn’t want to have to call your parents to pick you up. But even so,” Wendy said, reaching into her purse, “you need to make sure you stay healthy. I can’t have a visitor getting sick while visiting one of our patients. Here,” she handed a small bottle to Winry. “These are supplemental vitamins. Take one a day after meals. Edward would throw a fit if he found you sick when he woke up,” she smiled, closing her purse with a click.
“Um, thank you,” Winry said, feeling a little weird to be receiving something from someone she barely knew. “But I can’t really accept this gift.”
“You needn’t be so polite,” Wendy said, standing up and pulling the overcoat on. “Your parents did me the same favor when I was a small child, so I thought that I should at least give a little something back to their daughter.”
“You knew my parents?” Winry asked, the vitamins forgotten in her hands.
“Yes, I know your parents,” the nurse replied. “They’re very kind people. Be sure to give them my regards when you go back home.” She then walked out of the room quietly, shutting the door behind her carefully. Winry sat in a daze, wondering if it was possible that the nurse didn’t know her parents were already dead. The nurse had said that she was a little girl when her parents had helped her, so perhaps she really didn’t know the Rockbell Doctors had long since passed on. That would be another point that Winry envied. How nice it was to live in such ignorance! That nurse had never felt the pain that Winry had felt when she lost her parents, and she decided to keep it that way. There was no reason she had to rain on the nurse’s sunny life with news of her parents’ death. She bet that a person with such a sunny expression like the nurse had never experienced the pain of losing a loved one.
Suddenly, someone knocked at the door again, this time with a steady, firm, and quick beat. Winry could bet that it was someone from the military this time.
“Winry, I’m coming in, whether you’re ready or not!” came the sergeant’s voice as he opened the door loudly. Winry could only sigh at him as he entered grinning. She couldn’t muster the energy to yell at him like the first time she had done when he had made such a statement. For such an honest looking guy, his head was sure in the gutter. The “subtle” hints he had dropped when he first found her there were not one bit amusing to her.
“Sergeant Brosh, is there something I can help you with?” Winry asked politely, ignoring his previous statement.
“The military has decided that it would probably be safer for the Fullmetal Alchemist to have a guard for the remainder of his stay at the hospital, just in case that serial killer decides to come and finish him off,” he said, this time seriously. “And since I’ve had experience guarding the Fullmetal Alchemist before, I’ve been assigned to this job again.”
“A guard?” Winry asked, feeling a little confused. “I thought you already caught the man who’s responsible for the recent deaths?”
“Well, you see, there isn’t any real evidence that the guy we caught is actually the serial killer,” Brosh said a little shyly.
“What?” Winry shouted, jumping out of her chair. “I already told you that guy tried to kill me! And look what he did to Ed!” she said, pointing at the unconscious alchemist.
“It could all just be coincidence,” Brosh shrugged helplessly. “Maybe he had a grudge against you.”
“I’ve never seen that man before in my life!” Winry shouted indignantly.
“I know it doesn’t make any sense,” Brosh said, shaking his head. “It’s most reasonable to say that the reason he attacked you was because he thought you were Tina Valencia. But we simply have no evidence. No one has ever seen the killer’s face other than you, Edward and Alphonse, and then, that was only during one occasion. We can’t confirm that he’s really the serial killer we’ve been after. The most we can do is charge the man for attacking a State Alchemist.”
“But he was using alchemy when he tried to kill me,” Winry insisted. “Doesn’t that count for something? And didn’t you say that there are records of that man having been to all the places where the crimes have taken place?”
“But the man doesn’t know how to use alchemy,” Brosh said quietly, hoping to calm her down a little. His words had the opposite effect.
“ ‘Doesn’t know how to use alchemy?’” Winry asked in disbelief. “Then what the heck was he using to attack me with? How do you explain the damage caused to the building by alchemy? You think Ed was just showing off his alchemy recklessly?”
“Please calm down,” Brosh said nervously, hoping a nurse wasn’t going to run in and yell at him. “We’ve tested the man, but he doesn’t have any alchemy skills at all. He couldn’t use alchemy to save his life.”
“What?” Winry shrieked disbelievingly. A nurse stuck her head inside the room and demanded politely that they shut up. That seemed to calm Winry down a little.
“I’ll tell you something else if you promise not to yell my ear off,” Brosh said quietly. “Technically, I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this, but you do have a right to know…”
“What is it?” Winry asked, somewhat calm. She had known that it wouldn’t be easy to find evidence that the man was the killer, but she hadn’t expected him to get off so easily. He was supposed to be charged with attacking a State Alchemist using alchemy, but now it turned out that he didn’t even know alchemy. So how on earth had he been attacking Ed?
“This guy,” Brosh whispered, almost secretively, “he doesn’t remember anything from this past year. He claims that the last thing he remembers doing was going to bed. We tried to see if he was lying by making all sorts of casual comments about the past year, then listening to his responses, but he really has no idea of what’s happened at all.”
“And you believe this lie?” asked Winry incredulously. Oh, this was rich. First, he didn’t know alchemy, and now, he didn’t have memories of the past year. The alchemy thing was pushing it, but the memory thing was totally bogus. She couldn’t believe that the military were actually buying that guy’s story.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true,” Brosh insisted.
“And the next thing you’ll be telling me is that Colonel Mustang is actually a woman,” Winry said sarcastically. “If you’re trying to comfort me, Sergeant Brosh, you’re hardly doing an adequate job.” She turned away from the sergeant, instead opting to stare at Edward’s unresponsive face.
“I’ve told you all that I know,” Brosh sighed in resignation. Suddenly, he straightened himself, standing with his back straight, and looked every part like a member of the military. “As the guard assigned for the Fullmetal Alchemist’s safety, I am under orders to allow no one to approach the Fullmetal Alchemist who has not been approved by either the military or the Fullmetal Alchemist himself. So, Miss, please move away from the Fullmetal Alchemist, or I will be forced to remove you.” Winry could only gape at him as he said those words, wondering if he was joking.
“You’re not serious, are you?” she asked when Brosh failed to replace his serious face with the friendly face that she had become accustomed to. He gave her a curt nod and glanced at the door, his body language telling her to get out.
“This isn’t funny,” Winry said, anxiety beginning to spread through her.
“This isn’t a joke,” Brosh calmly replied. “Now please leave.”
“I’m his friend!” she shouted into the sergeant’s face. He seemed undisturbed by her outburst. “You can’t just tell me to leave!”
“I’m sorry, but this is a military affair now,” Brosh said mercilessly, ignoring her pleading eyes. “Friends and relatives will have time to visit him once the case is over.”
“You mean, even Al can’t see him?” Winry almost screamed. “Those brothers are inseparable!”
“Alphonse Elric has been missing for a while, so we cannot trust his presence with the Fullmetal Alchemist until this case is solved and the serial killer is safely behind bars.” In that one moment, Winry felt like taking her wrench and hitting the sergeant instead of the Elric brothers, her usual target. Brosh obviously noticed her tightly clenched fist, but said nothing.
“Fine,” Winry finally conceded, stomping off towards the door. The last thing that Edward needed was for her to be jailed just because she was sitting next to him. She would hear no end to his teasing if that ever happened. And then people would get the wrong idea. They might actually think that she lo-lo-err, that is, she cared deeply for that idiot, which of course she did, but she didn’t care for him that way.
“Winry,” Brosh said suddenly, interrupting her storming out of the room. “Finding Alphonse might be the best clue to figuring out what exactly happened to Edward.” He stared at her pointedly, as if there was something she was supposed to understand. She stared back, clueless.
“I don’t want you to put yourself in any danger,” he sighed, forced to say his thoughts since she didn’t understand his silence. Sometimes, things just had to be said to be understood. “I don’t want you to be running around looking for the serial killer. Leave that to the military. It would be best for you to just go home, but if you absolutely have to do something, go find Alphonse. I’m sure you’ll be safe with him.”
“How exactly do you expect me to find Alphonse?” she asked, not accepting this form of Brosh’s apology for his words earlier. The only way to find Alphonse was to go back to the place where she had last seen him and start from there. But the military had already quartered the place off from the public, so where did Brosh expect her to look for Alphonse?
“I’d much rather you go home and await news from us,” Brosh said honestly. “You’re still a child, after all. I only made that suggestion so that you would have something to do if you’re too worried to stay put.”
“Either way, you won’t let me stay by Ed’s side,” Winry asked, stating the question more than asking it. Brosh nodded firmly. Winry let out a long suffering sigh and headed towards the door once more. “Bye, Sergeant Brosh,” she said in a monotone, shutting the door behind her. Outside, she leaned against the door, wondering what to do next. He was right. She was too worried about Edward to simply go back and pretend that nothing had happened. On the other hand, she couldn’t sneak in and stay by Edward’s side with Sergeant Brosh there, not to mention it wouldn’t really help matters. The only choice she was left with was to find Alphonse, but that was a choice that she didn’t really want to make.
Brosh had thought that she would be safe once she found Alphonse, but she wondered if that was really case. If she recalled carefully that night, she remembered that something had been wrong with Alphonse. She had been shouting at Alphonse to help her, to help Edward, but he acted like he didn’t even know her. And then he had run off into the darkness, leaving her alone with an unconscious Edward and a rather stupefied suspect. It seemed that Alphonse had been possessed. She could feel a small smile crawl over her face at that thought. Possessed? She knew exactly what Edward would say to that.
“I don’t believe in ghosts!” she remembered how boldly he shouted back when they were children. He would definitely still say the same thing now, except this time with the added reasoning that he was a scientist, and he didn’t believe anything that could not be explained by science. Winry scoffed a little at idea. There were just some things in the world that science could never explain. She truly believed that with all her heart. But a murder mystery was not one of those things.
Winry walked down the busy hallway, wondering if she should heed Brosh’s words. She could follow his advice and attempt to find Alphonse, or…she could do something that none of them expected her to do. She could try to find the cause for Edward’s unmoving state. Sure, the doctors and officers had claimed that the reason Edward was unconscious was because of a battle injury, but she believed that it was something else. It had to be something else. Edward had never fallen unconscious this long because of a little punch in the gut. Thinking of the times when she had slammed her wrench into his stomach as a child, that little punch was nothing.
No, there had to be another reason, and it probably had to do with Alphonse’s disappearance. She bit her lip anxiously as she wondered what the reason could be. No matter what angle she looked at the situation from, only one explanation made sense to her.
Ghosts.
No one would believe her if she told them her suspicions, but she didn’t blame them. In this day and age, when religion was almost a joke in Amestris, who would believe in the existence of ghosts? But she was almost certain that that was the explanation. If she explained everything from a superstitious angle, everything would fall into place. The reason for Alphonse’s strange behavior and subsequent absence could easily be deduced. He was possessed. That was why he was acting strange. And the spirit that possessed him had wanted a body to fulfill his own purposes, which was why Alphonse had gone missing. And the same spirit would be the one who caused Edward to fall unconscious. Using the ghostly powers that vengeful spirits have, the ghost must have cast some sort of curse on Edward because Edward was too close to the truth.
She stopped outside on the steps of the hospital, wondering how to pursue this new discovery. If a ghost really was causing the Elric brothers misfortune, then where had the ghost come from and why had it chosen the Elric brothers as the target? She thought about that for a moment. Perhaps the ghost didn’t really have a choice in the matter. The circumstances must have been such that it was easier for the ghost to use the brothers instead of someone else. That would explain why the ghost had chosen to possess Alphonse instead of Edward. If she had been the ghost, she would have chosen to possess a real body instead of an empty armor, but she supposed that if she had no choice, possessing an empty armor was better than nothing.
She reached the street in front of the hospital, trying to decide whether to go left or right. If she went left, she would eventually end up at the Hughes house. If she went right, she could try to infiltrate the military base and get some answers from the man that had attacked Edward.
“What am I thinking?” she laughed out loud, shaking her head at her own thoughts. Infiltrate the military base? She wasn’t that hotheaded, was she? This wasn’t something that one just decided on a whim. That was the difference between Edward and her. She actually thought things out.
“So all I have to do is steal a female uniform,” she nodded to herself. Yep, she finished thinking. Time to infiltrate the base. “Besides,” she thought to herself, “right is right.”
Chapter 2