Fullmetal Alchemist/Supernatural - (Nano 2008) [16]

[scriveyner]

Title: Untitled Nano 2008 - 16
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist, Supernatural
AU: Mashup
Characters/Pairing: Ed, Al, Dean, Sam
Rating: T
Length: 1891
Summary:



"The array hasn't been activated yet," Ed said. "We've got to do something before those things decide we're the perfect food source."

"How do you think they plan to activate the array without coming in here?" Al craned his neck, trying to figure out the symbols on the ceiling.

Ed hesitated. "Good point," he said. "It's probably blood-activated, that's why there are chimera."

"/Blood-activated/?" Al was staring at Ed. "Where are you picking all this information up, Ed?"

Ed moved away from having his back to the wall. "If we can get the chimera in the array, maybe I can control the reaction," he murmured, more to himself than to Al. "Hey, hey!" He started waving his arms, attempting to get the creature's attention.

There were only four of them this time, unlike the masses that had been in the warehouse, but four was more than enough to make lunch out of Ed and Al. Al stared at Ed as he tried to lure the chimera forward, into the white-paint-array on the ground. "Who's a good ugly bastard," Ed called, trying to urge the beasts forward. 

Al started waving his arms as well, trying to draw the strange lion-alligator half-breeds. "Here, here! Over here!" he called. The chimera were completely confused by this, usually their food screamed and ran away, it didn't put on some kind of show for them. They split up, with three of the chimera heading in Al's direction, and one heading for Ed.

"Terrific!" Al stopped moving and started backing away as Ed bit his arm to draw blood. He spat, then clapped one hand over the tear in his skin, before slamming both hands down on the white paint array to activate it.

Immediately, the whole thing lit a searing, blinding white. Al felt tugged on, pulled toward the array inexplicably. He pushed his back against the wall, fighting against the tugging sensation. "Ed!" he called, completely blinded.

Ed was close to the array. He could feel the power surging through it, saw the chimera come apart. They didn't come apart cleanly, skin and organs and blood and bones there and gone in an instant. He felt the intense tugging sensation too, memories - they couldn't quite be his, could they? - emptying and filling his head all at the same time. He threw himself backwards, trying to get away from it while the whiteness faded from his eyes.

The array surged again - its purpose had been changed, and the pile of materials sitting in its center was consumed as well. The bright, blue-white light faded but Ed was certain he was hallucinating. At the far end of the room, anywhere where the array wasn't, eyes were beginning to open. 

Al gave a stifled shout from behind him, jumping forwards, away from the wall. The eyes were opening everywhere, different sizes and shapes, all the same unnatural shade of violet.

"What the, what the hell?" Al said softly. The eyes were not focused on him, but any time Ed moved the pupils followed him. "Ed, what is this, what the fuck is this?"

Ed got shakily to his feet. The array had burned off the floor, but it was still etched into the walls. "I don't know," he said. "I don't, fuck, are those things staring at /me/?"

Something was really wrong, Ed didn't feel right. He felt like he needed to vomit, now. His arm was bleeding, and an intense heaviness was beginning to come over him. "Ed-!" Al said as Ed staggered forward, over the invisible lines in the ground where the array had once sat. 

Ed ignored him, instead working his way toward the center of the array. He felt drawn to it, the pedestal that somehow was not consumed by the violent energy of the array, and there before him sat the oddest thing, a rock similar to the construct of the Stone which still hung around his neck, but not of the same coloration. It was a dark amber, the color of good scotch, and it glistened in the remaining light like it was wet.

"It's an imperfect Stone," Ed said in surprise. The sacrifice of the chimera had brought the amber stone to life. "It's... Citrinitas, it's the third stage-" He reached out to take it, to cover it in his own hand when he felt a pain like he had never felt before spark off from his breast bone. The intense tugging sensation was back, it felt like something was dragging hooks into him and Ed swore out loud, pushing himself backwards against the sensation. 

"Ed!" Al's voice came from far away as he staggered and landed hard on his back. It sounded off, almost hollow, but Ed had cracked his head against the concrete and was seeing the sparks of alchemy in the corners of his vision again. He closed his eyes for just a minute, against all the eyes, against the sparks of alchemy and remembered.

#

It didn't take him long to come back to himself. Ed blinked his eyes up against the large cool hand half-covering his forehead and eyes. "Brother," Al said worryingly. Edward sat up flailing. "The reaction of the alchemy," he said. "That's what it was, why was it so intent on -" Ed trailed off, and looked at Alphonse.

His brother was a large suit of armor, crouched over him. But that was what he was supposed to be, the image in his head of a taller-than-him, lanky man with scruffy blond hair and eyes the color of burnt copper was nothing but his imagination, and Al was trapped in this metal suit of armor before him.

Ed's memories were jumbled together, a mix of what was and what shouldn't be, and he closed his eyes again, curling to his knees and both hands, one flesh and one metal, on either side of his head. "Castiel," he murmured, trying to grasp the threads of his memories before they ran out of his grasp and lay forever jumbled. "What the fuck happened?!"

"You screamed and fell, brother," Al looked around uneasily, the metal of his helmet grating against the helm in an annoying yet comfortable sound. "After trying to grab the Stone. Who's Castiel?"

"Castiel, the angel-" Ed glanced back up at Al but the helmet was unreadable and Ed swallowed against the lump in his throat as he tried to figure out where they were. "The angel, he sent us here to stop Conte, don't you remember?"

Al shook his head, his voice a shadow of what Ed remembered. "Brother, I think you might have hit your head a little hard, maybe we should take it slow."

"God fucking /dammit/ I'm not broken," someone shouted from the other side of the room and Ed sat straight up, while Al turned and tried to protect Ed with his body. Al slammed a metal fist into Al's thigh, making him move. 

Across the room, sitting near the wall with a - /Al/? No, it wasn't Al, the hair was too dark and the face wasn't right - with someone hovering over him as well was one of the faces Ed had seen in his mirror. His hallucination come to life.

Ed's mouth ran dry, he wasn't sure what to do. He hadn't expected those hallucinations to ever come true, but - but they weren't hallucinations, he'd seen himself in those mirrors and the mixed-upped-ness of everything twisted around in his head.

He met the eye of his hallucination and said plainly, "Conte."

"That fucking bastard," his hallucination said. "I'm going to break his fucking neck."

Ed got to his feet. "The array's been neutralized, but the Gate's been opened." The eyes were still there, watching them, unblinking and unnatural. "We've got to stop Conte, he doesn't know what he's messing with."

"I can tell," his hallucination looked around and shuddered. "What is with the fucking creepy eyes, what the hell /is/ that-"

"The Gate, it's trying to emerge in this world, and it isn't supposed to." Ed tugged off his gloves and clapped, but the energy fizzled away. "The Gate's consuming all the alchemical energy in the room, it's being sucked in like a vortex," he said, glancing to Alphonse. Al nodded and trotted over to the pedestal, picking up the incomplete Stone in one gauntlet. 

"Citrinitas," the hallucination said. 

"An incomplete Stone," Ed said. Even incomplete, he could feel the power that pulsed inside the rock, it beat a steady if diluted rhythm. The rock was faintly warm to the touch, more cool than warm but it felt like someone had been warming it in their hands for a few moments before passing it on.

"Catch," Ed called, tossing it to the hallucination. He scrabbled and caught it, standing. "What do you want me to do with it?" He looked at it in confusion. "Why is it warm?"

"Because even incomplete, it is a Philosopher's Stone," Ed said.

#

Dean looked down at the Stone in his hand and then back to the kid halfway across the room. The kid who was so damnably familiar and he knew he'd seen those same eyes in the mirror before. He cupped his hands over the Stone and felt the warmth pulse through his palms.

"Dean, what is going on," Sam hissed mostly under his breath. 

"Fuck if I know," Dean said. "Something about alchemy and some freak named Conte has been trying to have us killed by his pet assassin." Sam gave him a look, and Dean shrugged, and pointed over at the other pair. "Look, it's the fucking Lollipop Guild and a suit of armor, what else do you want me to say?"

"What the fuck is a Lollipop Guild, and is that a crack on my /height/?" His hallucination called from across the room, hands curling into fists. The boy's shoulder was caught by one large hand of the guy who was in the suit of armor and he hesitated, then shrugged it off angrily. 

Dean threw a smirk at him. "What's the matter shorty, issues you need to work out?"

"THAT'S IT."

Even the armor wasn't fast enough to grab him. One moment Dean was upright and the next the blond hallucination had hit him mid chest and they went over backwards, scrabbling. The second his left hand impacted with Dean's jaw he stopped, eyes wide and terrified.

"Dean," Edward Elric said, sliding suddenly off his chest and backing away.

"Ed," Dean acknowledged, rubbing at his jaw. "Hell of a left hook you've got," he acknowledged.

"What the, what the /fuck/," Ed turned in a circle, his coat flapping out behind him. His head and attention shot to the door, eyes narrowed. "Conte," he said. "Whatever, whatever the fuck he did, that's why-"

Sam grabbed Dean's arm and helped him to his feet. "What the fuck is going on, Dean?"

"I'll tell you when you're older," Dean huffed, smacking Sam in the arm and tossing him the incomplete Stone. "What are we gonna do? Find Conte and break his neck?"

Ed cracked the knuckles of his left hand. "We're going to give him a piece of his own medicine," he said. "It's time he understood the full scope of what he's been screwing around with."