Fullmetal Kingdom ~ Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Breaking the Heart

Alphonse followed Scar through the hallways of Laboratory 5 until they saw a dark chamber…

Al went in first, but all he found was a few broken halves of a suit of armor.

"So, the brother of the Fullmetal has arrived."

Alphonse looked around and asked, "WHO SAID THAT?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" The voice replied, "Down here, boy. You've been standing near me the whole time." Al looked around, but saw nothing but a helmet near his feet…

Alphonse bent down to look at the helmet and asked, "…you're…the helmet?" The helmet replied, "I am, your brother bested me and my brother in battle, but instead of taking our lives, he spared us."

"The brat actually had the gull to call us 'humans'!"

Al and Scar then noticed the torso of armor begin to move his arms. The torso used his arms as legs and walked over to Al, "Will you be any different from your brother and spare us from this life?!" The helmet then said, "We were attached to a suit of armor, then we were given the job of defending this place with our lives. No one has ever bested us until Edward came and brought us down to this, scraps of metal." Alphonse then asked, "So that means you two were also guardians like Barry. But if you three were changed into empty suits like me, then this can't be a simple place to make Philosopher Stones. Um, Mr. Helmet, do you know where my brother is?"

The elder brother replied, "It's 'Slicer', not 'Mr. Helmet'! (ahem) Your brother went further into the Laboratory, where God-knows-what is waiting for him." Alphonse then asked, "Well…thank you, but what about you two? We can't just leave you both here like this-." The younger brother interrupted, "-Just leave kid, we've decided to wait it out, at least until our blood seals get old and tear off." Al then said, "DON'T SAY THAT! You're more than 'scraps', you're-!"

"-DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT SENTENCE!"

The younger Slicer then said, "You're going to do the same thing like him, aren't you?! Compare us to humans, when in reality, we're less than that! We were NEVER human to start with, kid; we were the Slicer, mass murderers, monsters with no compassion, warriors who die by the sword! You can't believe we can just walk out of here freely, like this, DO YOU?! Acting like we were alive, and nothing mattered in the past, THAT-!"

"Enough younger brother, he doesn't know our pain, he only sought to help. But it matters not, not anymore, right?" The elder brother asked. The younger brother replied, "…y-yes older brother, you're right." Al then said, "W-what do you mean?! It has to matter; Ed and I came for the stone, and with it-!"

"-You could turn your bodies back to normal."

After the elder brother spoke, the younger brother explained, "You probably think the Philosopher Stone can do the same for us and change us back into humans…" Al nodded, "That's right, you could live peacefully, you'd never have to be bodyguards of such a horrible place again!" The younger brother then asked, "…Alphonse Elric…your name is Alphonse Elric, right?" Al nodded, making the younger brother say, "Youngest of the Elric line, you and your brother were innocent children when you lost your bodies…my older brother and I…we were the worst kind of 'humans'. The military, the police, every law-abiding citizen in Amestris came after us because we killed people, innocent, villainous, it didn't matter who we slaughtered, we were wanted men. Well they found us, and they executed us because of those crimes."

The older brother then said, "And if we were brought back as humans, we'd be executed all over again." Alphonse gasped in terror, so the younger said to him, "(chuckle) Now do you understand, Alphonse? The stone would be better off used to restore the two of you, not two killers! Did you really see that happening? Do you really believe the military would be careless enough to let two killers go free?" Al shook his head, "N-NO, MAYBE WE COULD START YOUR LIVES OVER, MAYBE YOU COULD CHANGE-!"

"You're not listening, please understand. I'm sure your intentions are pure-hearted and noble, but you can't understand how cruel it is. The way you two kept teasing us…by calling us human when we can only live in this twisted form…AND THEN MAKING US REMEMBER WHAT WE'VE LOST…THAT…that is TRULY inhumane."

The younger finished…and began to press hard against his blood seal…

"N-NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Al asked.

"Just shut up and watch." The elder brother said.

Al darted over to the younger brother to try and force his hand off his blood seal, but the younger kept pressing against the seal. Al then yelled, "PLEASE, YOU CAN'T DO THIS, YOU STILL HAVE A BROTHER-!" The elder then said, "…and so do you. We were lost…until your brother called us human. He saved us from our own shackled hearts, so now, my younger brother is acknowledging his humanity. He is accepting the happiness Edward gave him by refuting his identity as Number 48 and never going back to it. It is the ONLY way he can keep his human dignity." Al cried, "NO, PLEASE, YOU CAN'T GIVE IN TO SUICIDE-!"

(slip)

Al lost his grip on the younger brother!

"Brother…I'm going ahead."

"Alright."

"N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-!"

(CR-CRASH)

(slump)

Al and Scar just stared at the younger brother as he broke his seal, and became a lifeless half of the suit…

Al trembled, "He…he could just live with this? Without even knowing whether he was real or not?! H-he could start over…HE COULD THROW THE SLICER AWAY!" Alphonse cried while Scar and the elder Slicer could only watch…

The elder brother then said, "Your brother, tell him we're thankful to have met him." Al slowly got up, and then he nodded to the elder.

(SHUK-T)

Suddenly, the elder brother was sliced in half! Al rushed to what remained and asked, "O-oh no, not again, please! Please sir, please talk to me, are you-?!"

"My-my, so you relate to that creature?"

Al and Scar looked around the room to find who spoke, but they couldn't find anyone…

"Well of course you can, you're the same, aren't you, Alphonse?"

(KA-THOOM)

Suddenly, Scar was tackled by Gluttony, who threw him into the entrance! Al tried to go to Scar's aid, but was suddenly batted away by a sudden attack!

As Alphonse got up, he saw who punched him away…

"K-Kairi?! B-but why are you-?!"

"Oh right, Sora wasn't the only one in the dark." Kairi said as she looked over Al's shoulder…

Al turned around to see an unconscious Sora sitting on the ground, "S-SORA, BUT WHY-?!" Kairi suddenly kicked Al around back at her, leapt onto his chest-plate, grabbed onto his iron collar and said, "By the way, it's Wrath!"

(KLANG)

Kairi then unleashed a powerful kick and batted Al against a wall! Al stood back up and noticed Kairi's foot appear differently than earlier…Kairi's foot was now like a cheeta's leg! "K-Kairi…what happened to you?!" Al asked. Wrath replied, "It's my little secret, kid. Like the rest of the Homunculus, I possess a unique trait…" Al was shocked, "…did…you just say…Homunculus?!"

Just then, Kairi's arms begin to bulk out, and HUGE bear claws appeared!

"This calls for a BEAR HUG!"

Wrath then leapt high in the air and came down towards Al while reaching out for him with her monstrous hands! Alphonse jumped out of the way, making Kairi crash though the floor!

Wrath immediately jumped out and attacked Al with a few claw attacks!

Alphonse avoided the attacks and said, "Kairi, did you hurt Sora?! Is he here because you planned for this?!" Wrath replied, "KAIRI?! HA! That chick was head-over-heels for this twerp! The only reason he's here is for the stone!" Alphonse grabbed Wrath and tossed him aside before asking, "Wait, you mean you've come for the Philosopher Stone to?!" Wrath rushed at Al and used an uppercut to shred through Al's chest-plate, she then batted him away! Before Wrath could attack a second time, Al caught her claw and kicked her away!

Alphonse and Wrath traded blows while they spoke. First, Wrath answered Al's question, "You boys think this place was where you'd find the Stone?! What you found was more secretive than any whisper exchanged between the crowds! You've located the very place where the master gets his nutrients!" Al then asked, "YOU BETRAYED YOUR FRIEND JUST FOR A LAB?!" Wrath replied, "Why not? A child has to occasionally show his and her love for their parents, don't they?!"

Wrath wrapped her fingers around Al's wrist, and then threw him over and over into the floor! As Al recovered, Wrath's hands suddenly became like an oily web and wrapped itself around the right side of Al! As Al tried to pull off the web, Wrath said, "-And F-Y-I, I was never 'friends' with him to begin with! We Homunculi have no need to make friends with ingredients!"

Alphonse then took a strong grip of the web and swung Wrath around and around! As he did, Al said, "THIS WON'T END YOUR WAY, 'WRATH'! WHOEVER YOUR MASTER IS, WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH SORA, YOU WON'T GET IT WITHOUT A FIGHT!" Alphonse then released Wrath, throwing him through a pillar!

(KRA-KA-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOM)

Wrath however was quick to counter! She grabbed a part of the pillar, and threw it against Al's body!

(KRA-COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM)

Wrath then lashed out a whip-like assault on Al, Alphonse shielded himself, but the attacks were beginning to get through the armor…

"This just turned into a losing battle ya walking recycling bin!" Wrath yelled and he tore through Al's arm! Wrath then took the torn arm and smacked Al a few times before shoving the arm through his torso! Wrath then kicked Alphonse to the ground, and delivered a mighty kick that devastated part of the room!

(KA-THOOOOOOOOOOOOM)

Alphonse staggered a bit, trying to bring himself back up, but a swift stomp to the chest-plate ceased his attempt! Wrath then said, "This fight is over, freak. You'll be taking a front-row seat while the Fullmetal begins the process of forging the rock for us."

Before Wrath could gloat further, Al grasped her hand and said, "…Kairi…please…come back to us. Brother…he came to find the answer…we want to find a way to make the Philosopher Stone without taking lives. If we succeed, we could change our bodies back…and maybe…maybe we could do the same to you. We could use the stone to change your body back to normal! Sora might recognize you if you changed back to normal, right? You came for him…I remember that honest tone in your voice when we first met. That's not something you could easily make up…those feelings were REAL Kairi…just like you. Please…please let us help you. Let's help change you AND Sora back!"

Wrath simply laughed and said, "Listen to yourself talk, obviously you didn't get the point of this whole betrayal. 'Kairi' is GONE! I was given this body, so I have the right to exist in it! That girl wanted to think this was all her, but in the end, the REAL her had it all under her control! This is Wrath talking, and it's Wrath who's going to kill you, Sora, and everyone else who crosses me-!"

"-ENOUGH! (glurg)…(gurgle)…get…out…of me…"

Suddenly, Wrath began to look sick…

Wrath struggled with herself, fought whatever made her speak earlier…

"W-WHAT THE HELL?! Get lost 'sweet-heart', you gave me this body, now it's time to-NO, THIS MISSION WILL BE CARRIED OUT, WITH OR WITHOUT YOU! Do…NOT…interfere-IDIOT, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S INTERFERING! YOU DIED YEARS AGO, JUST LET ME HAVE THIS BODY, REST IN PEACE AND LEAVE THEM! I WANT IT, I WANT IT ALL, THEY AREN'T YOUR FRIENDS, YOU'RE DEAD, THE DEAD SHOULD NEVER HAVE FRIENDS, GET OUT OF HERE AND GIVE THIS BACK TO ME, GIVE ME THIS BODY AND SUBMIT, SUBMIT-SUBMIT-SUBMIT-SUBMI-!…s-…s-…s-s-s-sub-…-m-…"

Wrath suddenly fell to the ground and pukes (offscreen)! Just then, Alphonse noticed small Red Stones coming out of Kairi's mouth! After all the stones came out of her body, a black drop of liquid came out of her as she puked! Wrath took a few deep breaths before Al could ask, "…Kairi…did you just-?"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

End of Chapter 139