[Fic] Immortality series Fic 1 - "Too Soon"
Title: Too Soon
Author: Me, naturally, but the background comes to us courtesy of Trom and Chex as well.
Pairing: Mainly Envy/Winry, but mentions of Roy/Ed
Rating: PG-13, mild violence, moderate language
Spoilers: None
Comments: Yeah, I'm on crack. If anyone that isn't Trom or Chex has any questions about what occurred before this that I didn't explain, feel free to ask.
Length: ZOMG LONG! 23 and a half pages, Word tells me
Julian didn’t need to sleep, so he used that time to work a second job, just to bolster their income just that little bit more. It’s not like they ever wanted for anything in their life, he just needed something to do so he wouldn’t be bored.
He decided to take to the roofs today, running, jumping, and flipping, just to keep his abilities up. He jumped down into an alley, and came out of it and walked the last block to the bar.
Why was he able to do this? Because he wasn’t human. He used to be, but he wasn’t anymore. He was a Homunculus, a created human. His old name was Envy, and he used to have green hair to match what went with his name. But now it was long and blond. He used his old human form on a regular basis, now, changing only if it was absolutely necessary. He went by Julian Hohenheim, his old name.
He pulled the door to the bar open and went in. It was frequented by soldiers, none of whom he knew outside of being a regular here. He walked to the closet, hung up his coat, and went behind the bar. “Alright you drunken bastards! I’m here so stop being cruel to poor little Tammy.” He said. Tammy was the evening bartender. She was small, but feisty enough to give back what was sent her way.
“Julian, about my tab…” one of the soldiers, short, blond, and generally nondescript started.
“You know the policy, Jimmy! Tabs get paid at the end of the week!” He cracked his knuckles and sneered just like he used to when he was genuinely threatening a certain small alchemist for effect.
Jimmy paled. Clearly he’d lost his sense of humor with that last beer. He was new, but the guys on either side of him knew he was joking. “M-m-m-my paycheck got delayed! I-I-I’ll pay, really I will!” He slid back away from him. He had misjudged where his stool ended though, and fell back onto the floor.
Everyone cracked up. One helped the guy up, and back onto his stool. “I’m kidding, man. I happen to know first hand that the Payroll department at Central’s understaffed. I’ll cut you some slack,” Julian said, grinning.
“You’re cruel, Julian, really you are.” Said an older man to Jimmy’s right.
“Oh, you’re too kind,” he replied. “What’ll it be for you?” he asked as another man came in after a day’s work.
He didn’t really look at the man for a minute. When he noticed who it was, he recoiled. Dark hair, slicked back, glasses, that blasted smile. “Why hello, Julian.”
“Er… Hello Lieutenant Colonel Hughes…” he said, suddenly nervous. After working with the man for a few months, he knew why he had been told to get rid of him. The man was cunning, and could probably read anyone like a book. Julian was one of his field operatives, taking advantage of the fact that he had the ultimate cover.
“Don’t want to work to hard, Julian. Otherwise your girl will worry about you. Scotch on the rocks.”
“Right, right,” he said, keeping up the façade that he wasn’t who he was. The number of people that knew who he was could be counted on two hands, and he wanted to keep it that way.
He set to making the drink. “What’s an officer of your rank doing in a dive like this?” he asked.
“I wanted to try someplace new.” He said. That look in his eyes, Julian had learned meant that there was more to his words than what was said.
Julian had to try real hard not to get so mad as to break the glass as he poured. He hated that look. It was times like this he wanted to beat Mustang to within an inch of his life for even suggesting he work for him.
“Why so tense?” Hughes asked as he was given his drink. “It’s a Thursday night. Saturday you get to be with your girl all day.”
Dammit, the bastard knows how I spend my time now? “How’s your daughter, sir?” he asked, trying to take the subject off of him.
“Oh! I’m so glad you asked!” the man’s tone elevated, as he reached into his breast pocket and produced pictures. “I took her shopping last weekend and we found the cutest dresses for her! Daisies and lilies and lilacs all over them! She just loves flowers! I think she’s going to become a florist when she grows up.” He splayed the pictures out on the bar. The soldiers nearby were either staring openly, or too drunk to notice the display of fatherly love. Hughes spread his hands out. “Imagine: Flowers by Elysia It’s got such a great ring to it, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel…” Julian said. He didn’t know what was worse. When the man was using his investigator’s tricks on him, or when he was talking about his daughter.
“Hey Julian! What’s with the rank? General Mustang came in the other day and you treated him like us!” said a Major from a few seats down the bar.
“He’s special! Mind your business!”
“So he came to see you?” Hughes asked, pocketing the pictures again.
“Yeah, he did. He seemed thoroughly amused by me serving these ingrates.” He pointed with his thumb toward the other end of the bar.
“We’re not ingrateful!” piped up one of the few civilians that dared sit at Julian’s bar.
“Yeah, then why’s my tip jar so empty, huh?” He jammed the aforementioned jar in front of the man.
“What did he tell you?” Hughes asked.
“That he and Ed are doing fine. They’re still at Southern HQ. Roy says being in charge there is more boring than out at Eastern.”
Hughes laughed. “That sounds like Roy.”
“You didn’t answer my question, before. What are you doing here?”
“Just checking in on my favorite bartender.” He said as he slid off the stool.
“Leaving already?”
“Gracia’s waiting. See you again later sometime, Julian.” He waved as he walked out the door.
Fuck you, you crazy bastard. He thought to himself as he dumped the ice out of the glass Hughes had left behind.
At the end of the night, around 4 a.m., he went home again. By then, he knew Winry’d be back from her shop, and they’d get to talk.
“I’m back!” he called as he came in the door. It was a small apartment, but it worked. She had her drafting space for her automail designs, and that was really all they needed extra.
“I’m in here, Julian!” she called from the bedroom, where the drafting table was. “Guess what happened?” she said as he appeared in the doorway. She was extremely excited about something.
“What is it that’s got you so excited?” he said as he walked up to hug her.
“Someone in the brass found my shop and was impressed by my work. From now on, I have a contract with the military. They will pay if any of their soldiers needs automail. Not if they just want to be stronger, but if they actually need it.”
“That’s great, Winry!” He squeezed her extra tight. Oh, if only that officer knew how long that contract would really last.
Due to the events that lead to their being put together, Winry was... special. She was half-homunculus, half-human, but the only telltale sign of this was the tattoo on her chest. She rarely wore anything with a lower neckline to hide it from prying eyes. She had the ability to reverse alchemical processes, as well as heal both homunculus and human. She used it in her automail work to lessen the pain of the surgery for her patients. She also had the immortality that came with it.
“I talked to Ed.” She said, letting him go and turning back to her work. Julian just stood behind her, watching. “He says he’s happy with Roy. I guess everything’s worked out for the best!”
“Yeah, that’s what Mustang told me. Hey, you’ve been working on that all day, come to bed with me.” He tugged at the hand that wasn’t holding the pencil.
“Alright,” she grinned as she let him pull her to the bed. He laid down and she curled up against him, closing her eyes and smiling. While neither of them actually needed to sleep, they sometimes just laid like this together, just enjoying each other’s company.
When the sun rose, Julian shifted himself into his uniform. “It’s going to be late tonight, he said before heading out the door. “Hughes has a mission for me tonight. I won’t be going in to the bar, so could you tell Richard I’m sick or something?”
“Sure thing! Seeya!” she didn’t need to go in to her shop for another few hours.
He decided to take a cab to HQ, not feeling like walking that day.
Soon, he arrived in the office. Already there was Hughes, of course, and another one of his men, Second Lieutenant Kinsey. Kinsey was young, fresh out of the academy, and bright.
“Major Hohenheim reporting for duty, sir,” Julian said. Such formalities came automatically to him at this point, and he had an apathetic attitude about it.
He never could shake that look Kinsey gave him whenever his last name was mentioned. That Hohenheim bastard’s dead, kid. Stop looking at me like that. Of course there was nothing in the records to say either way. Officially, Von Hohenheim, or Hohenheim of Light, was still missing.
Julian didn’t really worry about the kid prying into his past, because the bio in his personnel file (safely locked away in a special cabinet behind Hughes’s desk that only Hughes had the key to) was rock solid, if not entirely fictional.
“Ah, Julian! Just in time!” Hughes said as he stood and started gathering papers. “Remember that murderer we’ve been after for the last three days?”
“Yeah, what about him?” he said as he went to his desk to deposit his trench coat.
“His accomplice was arrested last night. I was just about to go down and interview her. I want you to come with. Your ability to tell when people are lying is even better than mine. I want you to watch her.”
“Yes, sir,” he said. He followed Hughes to the brig, where the man was waiting in one of the interrogation rooms. They moved past the guard posted at the door, and entered the room.
The only thing that surprised him about the situation was that the person was a woman. She looked scared to him, and he found a corner to stand in, behind where Hughes sat.
“Miss Browning, correct?” Hughes said in a friendly sort of tone. He seemed to pick up on the woman’s fear as well.
She nodded.
“No need to be afraid of us, alright? We’re not going to hurt you, and we won’t let anyone hurt you.” Hughes reassured her as he pulled out a pad of paper to take notes.
“Who’s that?” she asked. Julian could barely hear her.
“Him?” Hughes asked, pointing at Julian. “He’s my subordinate, Julian. He’s just here to watch.”
She fell silent again, looking at her hands in her lap. Her clothes and face were dirty, as if she’d spent a lot of time on the run.
“So tell me where you were at 3 o’ clock on Tuesday afternoon,” Hughes started.
“I was working,” she said simply.
“Where?”
“At the butcher shop.”
“Is there anyone that can provide an alibi?”
She hesitated, then shook her head.
She’s lying… but she’s scared too… Julian thought to himself. He shifted his weight from one foot to another, the sound of which was his signal to Hughes that she wasn’t being entirely truthful.
“Are you sure?” Hughes asked.
She hesitated again. “My brother.”
“What’s his name?” He started writing.
“Gene… Gene Carlsbad.” She replied.
“Good. Now where did you go when you got off of work?”
“I…” she started but stopped herself.
“You don’t need to worry about anything happening to you,” Hughes said gently. “If anyone said they’d hurt you if you spoke up we need to know who so we can protect you from them.”
She nodded. She looked about ready to cry. “He… He did it! My brother killed that poor girl. He made me swear not to tell or he said I’d be next. He wanted to stash the body in the meat locker but I wouldn’t let him. He said he’d get me and so I went into hiding. You gotta believe me!” she was now crying profusely.
Hughes turned to Julian. The younger man nodded. Hughes got up and went to her side of the table. “It’s alright. We won’t let him hurt you, okay? We’ll put you up in the military housing for now. We’ll have guards posted at your building around the clock. You’re safe now.” He rubbed her shaking shoulders and she cried into her dress sleeves.
“Well, she dodged a bullet.” Hughes said later on in the office. “I’m putting you on her case, Julian. I want you to check in on her on your way to the sting tonight.”
“Will do,” he said from his own desk, which his feet were propped up on. “So what else is there for today?” Julian was enjoying the fact that he didn’t have Kinsey’s suspicious eyes on him.
It was short-lived though. “Sir, that murderer struck again.” Kinsey burst in.
“It’s not the witness is it?” Hughes said, standing. Julian pulled his legs off the desk.
“No, sir. She’s secure.”
“Kinsey, you stay here and field calls. Julian, come with me.” Hughes said, leaving the office.
Julian followed him all the way to the murder site, only two steps behind. The area was taped off, and there was a body under a sheet.
Hughes and Julian each crouched on either side of her. Hughes pulled back the sheet and took a look at the woman’s face. He blinked for a moment, because she bore a striking resemblance to the woman they had just interviewed.
“You noticed it too?” Julian said, seeing his reaction.
Hughes nodded. The look on his face clearly said that the gears in his head were turning.
Julian looked around the vicinity and found the woman’s purse, which was already open. Inside, he found her wallet and found an answer to why she looked the way she did. Inside was a picture. There were three people. The woman they had just interviewed, the woman who was now dead, and a man. The back of the picture read “Gene, Carol, and Lucy - 1915”.
“Sir,” Julian passed the picture over to Hughes.
“This our man?” Hughes asked him as he flipped it over.
“I think so. This woman must be another sister.”
“She must have known something…” Hughes trailed off.
Julian looked back down at the woman. The blond of her hair was the same as Winry’s. It sent a chill up his spine, but he knew such a situation would be impossible. The only man that could hurt her that way was dead.
He lifted the sheet and saw the uniform that she was wearing. “Sir, I recognize this uniform. It’s to that café not far from Richard’s Bar.”
Hughes nodded. “I’ll get a warrant to search the place. It’s likely that he tried to work over his other sister to help him hide the first body, but she likely tried to come to us about it, and he murdered her.” Hughes stood up. He went to the radio. “Kinsey, do you read me?”
“Yessir,” Kinsey’s voice said after a moment.
“Put a rush on that search for Mr. Carlsbad. He’s definitely got another victim.”
“Yessir!”
Hughes gave the radio back to the Sergeant he had taken it from. He went back to the body.
“Julian!” Hughes called, writing quickly in his notebook. “I want you to go and talk to the other employees of that café. Try to determine if anyone else is in danger. Come back to the office with what you find out.” He gave him the picture.
“Sure thing,” he said as he pulled the sheet back over the body, and walked in that direction. It wasn’t far, only a few blocks. He hid his face as he passed Richard’s.
He walked into the café. One of the other waitresses was holding another, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Clearly, they had just gotten the news. He knew that he was going to have to be delicate about this, which was not his strong suit.
“Ladies, I need to talk to you,” he said.
They eyed him warily. “I’m here to help.” He added. “Can you come have a seat?” He sat at an empty table and patted it for them to join him.
“Could I have your names please?” He started.
“I’m Janine Anderson, and she’s Clara Gilliam,” said a redheaded woman as the other was wiping her eyes and blowing her nose with her handkerchief.
“When was the last time you saw Miss Carlsbad?” he asked.
“When she got off her shift last night.” Janine supplied. “She seemed anxious about something. She even left a couple hours early.
“Does the man in this picture look familiar to any of you?” he asked as he pulled it out of his chest pocket.
The one that was sobbing gasped, and the other chewed on her lip. “Well… the thing is…” Janine started. “He came by last night, and pulled her aside. They had a shouting match, and then he left all pissed off. She hung around for another couple of hours and then asked the boss if she could cut out early. Is he the one that killed her?”
“Just tracking down leads,” he said evasively. “Did he say anything to either of you?”
“Not really,” Clara finally spoke up. “I was the one he asked to talk to Carol.”
He nodded. “Anything about what you saw last night that differs from this picture?”
“He’s got a great big scar running down his face. It looks new, so it must’ve happened since the picture was taken.” Janine said.
“Thank you ladies.” He reached in his pants pocket and pulled out two cards. “If you need to tell us anything else, or if you need protection, call this number right away. Someone will answer.”
They thanked him, and he left. He started back toward the office, but since Winry’s shop was on the way, he decided to stop in.
“Julian!” she said brightly. She looked up from where she was adjusting a young-man’s leg.
“Just decided to stop in and see how things were going.” He said with a smile. The young man looked up at him in awe. It had to be the uniform.
“Everything’s fine.” She looked him up and down. “What’s that on your shoe?”
He looked down. He had apparently stepped in some blood. But there were no wounds on the body.
“I gotta go.” He suddenly said. He ran out the door. He had to check something.
“Julian!” Winry called after him, but he was already running toward the crime scene again. He skidded to a stop in front of the alley. He went under the tape and looked around the alley. There was indeed a healthy amount of blood. He searched the body, and there were no cuts large enough to cause this much blood. He looked around through the garbage that was piled there. Soon, he found what he was looking for. A small folding knife, open and bloody.
So she was trying to protect herself. “Sergeant! Bring me a radio!” he called to an MP standing nearby. It soon came and he tuned it to the proper frequency. “Hughes, sir, it’s Julian.”
“Go ahead.” Hughes’s voice crackled.
“I found a knife, sir. Clearly Carol tried to defend herself and got a good slice in. It’s likely that he’s still wounded.”
“Good job, Julian! Keep asking around out there. I’m going to send Kinsey to check his last place of residence. Report to me with whatever else you find out.”
“Yessir,” he passed the radio back to who he had taken it from.
He bagged the knife carefully, wrote the case number on it and passed it to the MP. “Make sure that gets to Hughes’s office.” He went to a nearby 24 hour pharmacy, called Johnson’s Drugs.
He asked around about if anyone had heard anything late the night before, including some residents of some nearby apartments, but he came up with nothing, except for an alchemist, who had been up late experimenting, had just heard screams. The boy’s name was familiar somehow, though he couldn’t place where it had come from for a while. Russell Tringham… oh! They were trying to make the Stone in that desert town out East.
“This doesn’t have any bearing on this case, but do you know an Edward Elric?” Julian asked. He contained a smirk.
“I’ve heard of him. I mean, who hasn’t. The youngest State Alchemist ever, you know.”
“I’m aware,” he said. “Nothing else?”
“Nope. I just know what’s been reported in the papers.”
“Trying to compete?”
“It’s always good to have a goal.” Russell said with a grin that meant more than was said.
Julian left the Tringhams, more to give the timid little brother a break from being weirded out by the strange soldier, and went back to the office.
“Find anything else?” Hughes asked from his desk. He was busy writing quickly.
Julian looked through his notes. “Just a report of some screams around 5 this morning. Also, the pharmacist near the scene says a bleeding man came in asking for bandages and aspirin. He took them and ran off somewhere. But I expected that. The blood on the door confirmed it.”
Hughes nodded. He steepled his fingers and thought a moment.
It was then that Kinsey returned. “No one at the apartment.” He said.
Hughes bounced the end of his pen against his desk. “Julian, go ask Miss Lucille if she knows of any place her brother might run to if he were in trouble. Names and addresses if you can get them. Kinsey, check the hospitals to see if anyone matching Gene’s description was admitted.”
“Yessir,” they chorused and walked down the hall together to leave the building.
“You want to come drinking with me tonight? We’ve been in the same office for a couple months now and I don’t think we’ve gone to hang out once,” Kinsey suggested.
“I can’t tonight. The Lieutenant Colonel has a sting for me.” Julian answered flatly. He didn’t like the other man. Not. At. All.
“Oh, that’s too bad. I just wanted to get to know a little more about you,” his said silkily.
“Mmm…” he responded. All his old instincts were coming back, and he fought to suppress them. The hand on the opposite side of his body from where Kinsey walked fisted.
“So you’re Hughes’ wiz kid, huh? Where was it you were stationed before you came here again?” He didn’t like the light in his eyes as he spoke.
“Eastern, under General Mustang.” By now the response was automatic.
“How come you didn’t come here with his other subordinates?”
Damn, you’re a nosy bastard. We’ve covered this about six times this month! “Because General Hakuro requested that I stay. I came to Central a little before I started working for the Lieutenant Colonel.”
“You helped General Mustang and Lieutenant Colonel Elric bring down Scar, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he replied. Those front doors wouldn’t come close soon enough.
“You brought him down yourself, didn’t you? You and some gi-“
Julian pushed Kinsey into a side room, a records room, and empty. He pushed him up against the wall. Some binders toppled off the shelves on impact. “You keep your mouth shut about me, alright? I can make it so that even the Lieutenant Colonel wouldn’t be able to find you.” He growled, seriously considering letting his Homunculus features show. His aim was to scare him into keeping his mouth shut. Defiant eyes looked back.
“Got something to hide, huh? Trying to weasel your way into the brass’s good graces?” Kinsey challenged.
“Bullshit!” Julian spat. “I might have to call your loyalties into question too, if you pry too deep.”
Kinsey kept that smug look on his face. Julian debated wiping it off with his fist. He pushed him harder against the wall, uniform fisted. They just glared, each daring the other to try something.
Julian let him go after a minute. He turned and went back out the door, leaving Kinsey to make himself presentable again.
His mood wasn’t likely to improve anytime soon. Maybe when he saw Winry, it might. He was considering stopping by to see her again if he got the opportunity.
He went to the apartment, and after being cleared to enter, he walked in. “Hello again,” he said with a bit of a friendly smile. He did things like this to get his job done.
“Ah, I remember you. You’re… I’m sorry I don’t think Mr. Hughes said your name.” By now she was cleaned up, and looking much more like the woman in the picture with her siblings.
“Major Julian Hohenheim, miss,” he said as he sat on the sofa next to her. “Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions?”
“Not at all. Go ahead.” She kept smiling. Oh dammit, I think she’s got an infatuation with me. Ah well, at least she’ll cooperate.
“Do you know of any place your brother might go if he were in trouble? Any old hangouts as a kid, anything like that?”
She gasped. “Is he okay?” she asked.
“We don’t know. We need to find him to know for sure.”
Just then, the phone rang. “I’ll get it,” Julian volunteered. He picked it up off of the end table. “Hello?” he said in a different voiced than usual.
“Who is this?” demanded a male voice. It’s him.
“It’s who you called,” Julian maintained the fake voice.
“Let me talk to Lucy, is she there?”
“Yeah, but she’s busy right now. Can I take a message?”
“PUT HER ON THE FUCKING PHONE!!!” he screamed.
Lucy had heard that. “Gene!” she gasped.
“I heard her! Put her on the line you asshole!”
Julian covered the receiver with his hand. “Try to find out where he is.” He whispered, then handed the phone to her. How did he get this number? He asked himself as she nodded.
“Gene?” she asked. She sounded ready to cry.
She just said “Mm-hmm…” several times in a row. “Be careful, Gene. I love you!” was the last thing she said before Julian heard the dial tone.
“Do you know where he is?” Julian said as he took the phone from her.
She was silent, tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked at her hands in her lap.
Julian reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “If he’s hurt as bad as we think he is, he needs a doctor. He won’t get one as long as he’s on the lam.”
She took a deep, shaky breath. “He’s… in an inn on the west side of town. Patrick’s, he said the name was.” And the sobs returned anew. “He also told me,” she seemed determined to speak regardless of her vocal condition, “That he had killed Carol, my younger sister. Did you know that?”
He nodded.
She looked at him with incredulous eyes. “You knew? You knew and you didn’t tell me?” She stood up.
“Lucy-“
“I helped you all along, and you didn’t even tell me my own sister was dead, at the hands of my brother. I’m the oldest! I’m supposed to protect them! I got them away from that lying, thieving, drunken bastard when we were all kids and then this happens!” She collapsed onto the floor not far from the couch. Julian crouched in front of her, letting her let it out. She clung to him, sobbing into his shoulder.
“My youngest brother died…” Julian started. He pushed her away and looked at her. “It was an accident, but it was my fault. My other brother almost died too. But he’s alright now, and he’s forgiven me. I haven’t forgiven myself. I don’t think I ever will. You can still protect your younger brother by helping us. If we don’t find him soon, there’s a possibility he might bleed to death. Carol had a knife with her when he attacked her. Also, if he cooperates with us, he might escape a hanging. What do you say?” He looked her in the eyes the whole time, and they registered shock when he told her about the knife.
“I… see…” she said, looking down at her hands again.
“Was it usual for Carol to have a knife with her?” Julian asked, standing and offering a hand to help her up.
She accepted it, and pulled herself up. “No. She only used a knife one other time. When we escaped from our father. She stabbed him more times than I could count. If she had that knife with her, that meant she was serious about what was going on. I’ll still help you, because that’s what Carol would want.”
She was still shaky on her legs, so he led her by the hand back to the couch. “Thank you. Is there anything else he told you about his location?’
“No,” she said, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief.
“Let one of the guards answer the phone for you if it rings. It’s most likely going to be me, my associate, or Lieutenant Colonel Hughes.”
“Alright. Thank you, Major.”
Julian left, taking one of the guards’ radios with him.
“Sir? He called the safe house.”
“Where have you been?” Hughes sounded almost rattled.
“Interviewing Lucy, why?”
“The problem has escalated. He’s held up a shop downtown and is holding everyone inside as hostages. He’s got a gun to the owner’s head.”
“Which one? I’ll be right there!” He started running down the stairs.
“Julian… its Winry.”
He came to a halt. “What did you just say?”
“Keep your cool, Julian. We have the situation under control. If you act irrationally I’ll have you locked in the office.”
“As if your stupid locks could hold me.”
“Julian…”
“I need to be there. If he pisses her off too much, she’ll probably kill him if that other woman comes out. I’m the only one that can keep her calm enough. Send me in as a negotiator.”
“Only if you can keep yourself under control and not kill him.”
“I make no promises.” Julian growled.
Hughes sighed. “Alright, but don’t mess this up.”
Julian dropped the radio, letting it break on its tumble down the stairs. He ran as fast as he could, taking to the roofs once he hit the street. He didn’t care who saw him, they wouldn’t be able to see him long enough to look twice.
He dropped down into the alley further down the block, and ran down the sidewalk. “Let me in there.” He demanded of the commander of the MPs.
“You from investigations? Hughes said he was sending someone.”
“That’s me.”
“I’m going to have to take your gun from you. He wouldn’t take too kindly to anyone going in armed.”
“Fine, fine.” It’s not like I need a gun to kill him. I can do that with my own two hands.
Julian entered the shop, and the first thing he saw was Gene holding Winry around her neck. The gun was now pointed at him. He put his hands up to show he came in peace.
“Turn around!” Gene demanded. Julian obeyed. After a moment he turned to face the front.
“Can we talk now?” Julian asked, his anger bubbling at the surface. He lowered his hands and looked at Winry. Her eyes were still normal, so that meant that she hadn’t come out yet. This was good, but he wasn’t sure how long it would last.
There was someone else living inside her body, and that person had all of the malice and cruelty of the Homunculus. She could easily kill both human and Homunculus when she was like that. Her very blood was caustic to both.
“I want safe passage out of the city.” Gene demanded. “And 10,000,000 cenz.”
“You’re aware of our policy regarding hostage takers, right?” Julian said, a sickening grin forming on his face. Winry cowered. This side of him hadn’t come out in a long time.
Envy stepped toward Gene. He let his true Homunculus features show. The man got scared and fired. Julian pretended like they actually killed him, and dropped to the floor.
Winry screamed. Julian could hear the commotion the shots caused outside. The only window was the glass in the door. All they could see from there was some of the cowering hostages.
Envy used the fact he was on the floor to his advantage. He grabbed hold of a leg of a chair right by where his hand had fallen.
“You won’t give me what I want? Fine! The girl dies!” he pointed the gun at her head and was about to pull the trigger, but the hand clamped over the muzzle of the gun distracted him.
It was Winry. A transmutation circle glowed on her hand, and the gun disappeared into nothing. “I’m afraid you’ll find me much harder to kill than that.”
Envy threw the chair, hitting Gene in the head, knocking him to the floor. He got back up, bullet holes still intact, and pulled Winry away from Gene.
“Let go of me!” She snapped. She clamped her hand on his arm and a different circle glowed for a moment, and pain coursed through his arm. As she held him, he grit his teeth and bore it, not willing to scream.
“I’m… not letting go… of you…” he grunted.
Parts of his arm started falling away as ash. She was neutralizing the power of the red stones inside of him.
She pressed her other hand to his chest, right on one of the bullet holes, and the same circle began to glow there. That was pain he couldn’t take. He screamed, and dropped to his knees. She kept her hands on him, and parts of his chest started falling away as ash as well.
“Winry!” he grunted. “It’s me!”
“She can’t hear you,” the different voice in Winry’s body said.
“Let her out, Purgatory!” He grunted again against the pain. It wouldn’t be too much longer until half his torso was severed. His hand had already dropped off and turned to ash. When she let go, he’d be able to regenerate, if it were in time.
Purgatory had been her name. Somewhere between heaven and hell.
Envy used his free hand to grab her by the front of her shirt. He was going to stop her the only way he knew how.
But in that moment, Gene came up from behind her with his garroting wire and wrapped it around her neck. He pulled her off of him, and kept his grip on the wire tight.
All Envy could do is watch as his body regenerated. He ignored the gasps and screams from the hostages. Hughes would take care of that.
She didn’t lose that icy, placid demeanor, as she grabbed hold of his neck and squeezed. It didn’t take long for him to let go of the wire and hold onto her arm with his, in a futile attempt to pull her off of him.
Envy jumped up and used all his strength to push her off of him. He dropped to the floor, but she only took a step back.
He turned to her and grabbed her by the wrist. He yanked her toward him and kissed her. This is the only way he knew to bring his Winry back.
It worked. Her eyes returned to a normal shape, if not still purple. She smiled. “Thanks,” she said.
He turned to Gene, who was still coughing from his near-choking. “Will you give yourself up now?”
Gene shook his head. “Why should I do that?”
“Because that is your only option right now. It’s either that or I kill you right here on the spot.”
“He was right… you aren’t human.”
“Who?” Envy narrowed his eyes at him.
Gene laughed. “You don’t know, do you?”
Envy grabbed him by the neck and pushed him to the floor. “Who is it?!”
“I’ll never tell …” he grunted.
“You sure as hell will tell me, if you value your life!”
“Hah! You say that like they won’t hang me anyway. I killed my own sister! I’m a monster in the eyes of any jury! Either you kill me now or the State kills me later. Those are your only options.”
Envy growled.
“Do it, Julian.” Winry said from behind. “He’s right. Let him die on his own terms.”
“I can’t do that. I promised Lucy he’d stand trial. That’s what he’ll do.” Envy lifted Gene by his neck, and dragged him to the door. He tossed him out, and he was immediately set upon and cuffed by waiting MPs.
Envy glance through the crowd that was watching. Beyond the sea of black uniforms were some blue. Julian recognized a few of them. Hughes, Ross, Bloche,… and Kinsey. Julian turned his eyes back to blue as he made his way toward him. “All clear, sir,” Julian said to Hughes with a salute.
Hughes returned it. “Well done. Are all of the hostages secure?”
“Yes, sir, no one was harmed.”
“Good. You have the day off until tonight for that sting. Use it well.” He winked and walked to his car.
Julian turned to Kinsey. “There’re things about this case that confuse me,” Julian said.
“What’s that?” The younger man had a grin on his face that he knew exactly what he was talking about.
“The phone call to the safe house, the fact that Winry was targeted, and that guy said the strangest thing while I was detaining him.”
“Really? What’d he say?”
“He insinuated that someone had told him something about me.”
Kinsey grinned. “I only guided him along to see how you’d dance if the tune changed. I led him to the sister. I gave him the number to the apartment. I’d say it all went well. You’re definitely not human. I wonder what the General would have to say about this…”
“Watch your ass, kid,” Julian growled. “You’re right, I’m not human. I’m better than that. You’ll see just how good I can be later on… if you’re not scared.”
“So you finally admit it? Aw… you ruined all my fun! What is it you have in mind.”
“Come to the sting tonight. You’ll see.”
Julian walked away. Either he was going to end up with another ally in all this, or he was going to have a body to get rid of. Either way was fine with him.
He spent the few hours between when he was dismissed and when he was needed again venting his frustrations on some large trees in a forested area. He punched, kicked, and generally treated them like he would any of his old victims.
Eventually his head cooled down again, he shifted into his disguise, a very tall, blond, woman, and made his way to the sting. He was wearing a red dress with a short skirt, and a black bolero jacket over it. He headed toward the apartment where they had planned to meet.
He opened the door and saw Hughes buttoning himself into a vest from a civilian suit. He started when he saw him. “J-Julian?”
“Yeah, what about it?” he said in his own voice.
Hughes fidgeted with his wedding ring, which he was actually wearing for once. “Don’t let Gracia see you. She might start asking questions.”
“Yeah, yeah…” he said. He sat in a chair in a rather unladylike fashion.
Hughes spluttered. “Julian! You’re a girl.”
“Oh yeah,” he crossed his legs. “Better?”
“Yes, now let’s go.” He pulled on the mechanism that allowed him to stow his knives in his sleeves, and pulled a suit jacket over it.
They went down to a restaurant, and sat in a window seat. Across the avenue was a place where a people trafficking ring was due to make an exchange.
They played it like Hughes was cheating on his wife, and they were all lovey-dovey about it. It made Julian sick, but it was part of the job. He hoped that Kinsey was watching, so he knew why he had to keep who he was a secret.
“They’re here,” Julian said, glancing out of the corner of his eye.
“Right on time. Let’s go, honey,” he stood and offered his hand, which Julian took, they both having finished their dinner. They crossed the street at a nearby corner, and walked toward them.
“Ten thousand? Bullshit! I won’t take less than 100,000!” one of them shouted.
It looked like a fight was going to break out. Julian made like he bumped into them and fell on his butt. “Ow…” he complained, rubbing his butt.
“Here, let me help you, Julia.” Hughes said as he bent to help ‘her’ up.
“What do you think you’re doing, asshole?” said one of the thugs as Hughes nudged past them.
“Just trying to walk past you all. Oh, hello ladies!” he said to the two frightened girls in the middle of the circle of men.
He pulled Julian to his feet and they started to keep walking.
“I can’t just let you go like that…” said the one in the tackiest suit of them all.
“Why not?” Hughes asked, sounding generally confused.
“I know who you are. You’re Maes Hughes, head of the investigations department at Central!” the leader challenged. Some of the thugs started looking scared.
Hughes smiled. “If you know who I am, then you know what’s coming to you.” He twitched his elbow, and a dagger dropped out of his sleeve into his hand.
The leader grabbed Julian and held him at knifepoint. Julian’s patience was wearing thin for this act, however, and he just pulled him up and flipped him over his head to the concrete. He turned to the others. “Anyone else curious as to what concrete tastes like?”
Guns came out now. Hughes raised his hands, first so they wouldn’t shoot him right away, second, as his signal to the others. In just slightly more than one minute, MPs, Kinsey, and a myriad of others would converge on the scene. But a lot can happen in a minute.
The leader was groaning on the ground behind Hughes, and Julian stood there, just watching. His hands weren’t up.
“Hey, hands in the sky, bitch!” said one of the thugs. He pointed his gun more directly at what he thought was a woman.
Julian only glared. But he heard a suspicious sound from behind. He turned just in time to see the leader level his gun at Hughes’ back.
Julian rammed his shoulder into Hughes, knocking him to the ground. The shot found a home in his thigh, right where the Ouroborous symbol would have been if he wasn’t actively hiding it.
Hughes flung an arm out and put a couple knives into the leader’s chest, in nonlethal areas. “Julian!” Hughes shouted as he pushed the groaning boy off of him. He had released his disguise and he looked like the green haired boy in black. The thugs were very confused. The girls screamed.
“I’ll be alright,” he grunted. He stuck his fingers into the wound and pulled out the bullet so his leg could heal. “How about you?”
Just then, the MPs showed up and surrounded the scene. “You alright sir?” Kinsey asked as he handcuffed the leader.
“Yes, thanks to Julian.” He was brushing the dirt off of his suit. He noticed Julian had bled on him. “Ah! How am I going to explain these stains to Gracia?”
Julian didn’t bother re-disguising himself. He was panting, and the pain in his leg was slowly ebbing away.
“Julian?” Hughes said, putting a hand on his shoulder, and trying to meet his eyes.
“You’re just fucking lucky that you can still face her.” He said more nastily than he’d intended.
Soon, all the criminals were locked in the paddywagon, and Kinsey smacked the back door as a signal the driver could leave. The girls were being taken into protective custody, and they were in a separate car.
Kinsey walked up to where Julian sat on the curb. He had used some time while others were distracted to hide in an alley and change into his uniform again. He sat next to him. “Alright, I’ll lay off.” Kinsey said. “But only if you tell me the whole story.”
Julian looked at him. “I’m a Homunculus. A person created with alchemy. I have all the same makeup of a person, the only thing is I have no soul. There used to be more of us, but a few months back, when the Fuhrer died, that was when we got rid of them. I used to be just as evil as the rest of them. But Winry helped get me away from that. She lost most of her humanity in the process, but it means that we will always be together.”
“So that would explain the fact that you’ve been shot three times today and didn’t bite it.”
“Guns are a laugh.” He said. “I much prefer a good old fashioned beating.”
“So how long have you been around?”
“A little more than a hundred years.”
“Wow…” Kinsey put a hand to his chin in thought.
Julian stood up and grabbed his wrist. He flipped him in much the same way he had done to the gang leader.
“What was that for?” Kinsey groaned from the street.
“That was for putting Winry in harm’s way! And for the death of that woman you slimy bastard! Hughes will hear of this, either from me or from the culprit. You deserve worse!”
He started to walk away, but he turned. At this point, Kinsey was on his knees, a hand holding his back. “And yes, that bastard is my father, so you can stop giving me that look.” He added.
He turned and made his way back to he and Winry’s apartment. He hoped she was home by now.
The next morning, there was a knock on the door. Envy got out of bed and opened the door, wearing pajamas and yawning. “Yes?”
At his door was a stern Hughes, Kinsey looking apologetic, and a looming General behind them. “Can I help you?”
The General pushed his way into the apartment. Winry appeared in the bedroom door. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“That’s some tattoo you have there, girl.” The General said, looking at Winry’s chest. Her tanktop revealed the symbol on her chest, the snake on a cross with another snake eating its tail around it.
She covered it with her hands.
Julian narrowed his eyes at Hughes. “What’s the meaning of this?”
“I’m sorry, Julian.” Hughes said genuinely.
“Julian Hohenheim, if that is your real name, do you have an explanation for the things that happened yesterday?” the General boomed.
“You said that if there were any mistakes or slipups you’d handle it, Maes,” Julian hissed. The other man remained silent.
“I asked you a question, Major.”
Julian then glared at the older man. “What event are you referring to? I had a busy day yesterday, sir.” He added the sir with as much of a disrespectful tone as he could manage.
“All of it! The hostages in the mechanic’s shop reported that you were shot, then started turning to ashes at her hand,” he pounted at Winry who clung tighter to Julian’s arm, “then you got up and almost killed the suspect! Then! During the capture of Don Santiago’s gang, they reported that you changed clothes, and gender on the spot! Explain yourself!”
“There is an alchemical process that allows me to take on pretty much whatever form I wish to,” Julian said. Just as he was good at telling when people were lying, he was just as good at lying.
“How about a demonstration, Major?” the General challenged.
Julian walked to an end table and pulled out a piece of cloth. It had a transmutation circle on it that Roy and Ed had masterminded for just such an occasion. The shapes included in it could theoretically allow a person’s clothes to change. He touched it, and shifted his form at the same time, into his uniform. While he, as a Homunculus could not do alchemy, his timing was so that it looked like he did.
“Satisfied?” he asked.
“No. Explain what happened in the automail shop. Not you! I want to hear it from her.” He again pointed at Winry.
“She has nothing to do with this. She is a civilian. She’s still recovering from the ordeal yesterday.”
“Its okay, Julian.” She said, stepping away from him.
“Go on…” the General crossed his arms.
“Julian was wearing a prototype of mine. It was body armor. When he got shot, it must have turned into powder. I suppose it was just enough of a success to save him…” she looked at her shoes as she clung to Julian’s arm again. Under his clothes, so no one could see the light of the action, he gave himself some bandages wrapped around his middle. Just in case.
“I’d like a look at that prototype, Miss…” he paused for her to give her name.
“Rockbell, Winry Rockbell.” She said, offering a hand to shake.
He ignored it. “Hughes, do I have your word that everything is on the up-an-up here?”
“Yes, General Faust, you do.”
“Alright, I’m satisfied. Good day, everyone.” Faust left, and Kinsey and Hughes remained.
“So are you going to tell him?” Julian said to Kinsey.
“Tell who, what?” Hughes asked, leveling that cool, calculating look at them both.
Do it, Chickenshit!
“Out with it! I don’t have all day!” he barked. That was a first for Julian.
“I… I was trying to get to Julian, to make him talk about who he was. I… was abetting Gene. I gave him the phone number for the safe house, and I suggested that he find Carol,” Kinsey suggested.
Hughes regarded him carefully. “Michael... I can’t stand for actions like that.”
“I know, sir, I regret it now.”
“That’s not enough! Lucy now has to live the rest of her life without two of her siblings! This isn’t a game, Second Lieutenant. I should have you arrested for this.”
“You’d be well within your rights, sir,” Kinsey stood at attention, but he couldn’t meet Hughes’ eyes.
Hughes plucked off his glasses and buffed the lenses with his handkerchief. “But you’re dead useful to me. Inexperienced and rash, but useful. I don’t know what to do with you right now. You’re dismissed until I call you back.”
“Yessir…” Kinsey made a salute that was not returned, and left.
“What are you going to do with him?” Julian asked.
“I’ll talk to Roy about it. As irresponsible as he is, he usually knows the best way to discipline in this sort of situation. I’d rather this not go to court, because then your past will be called into question. It’s likely that I’ll suspend him from duty for a few weeks, just to make him sweat.”
Julian nodded.
“This is your first slip, and what a slip to make.” He pushed his glasses back onto his face.
“I’m aware, sir.”
“You’re going to have goose-step around General Faust from now on.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Hughes made for the door. “Oh! Gracia invited you and Winry to dinner tomorrow night. She wants to thank you for making sure I came home last night.”
“We’d love to come, Mr. Hughes,” Winry smiled.
“Good! Elysia will be so excited!” He smiled, and shut the door behind himself.
Winry breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t think we’d run the risk of getting found out so soon.” She hugged him tight.
“I’m sorry. Are you still alright after what happened yesterday?”
She nodded. “I love you, Julian.”
“I love you too.”
X3
Author: Me, naturally, but the background comes to us courtesy of Trom and Chex as well.
Pairing: Mainly Envy/Winry, but mentions of Roy/Ed
Rating: PG-13, mild violence, moderate language
Spoilers: None
Comments: Yeah, I'm on crack. If anyone that isn't Trom or Chex has any questions about what occurred before this that I didn't explain, feel free to ask.
Length: ZOMG LONG! 23 and a half pages, Word tells me
Julian didn’t need to sleep, so he used that time to work a second job, just to bolster their income just that little bit more. It’s not like they ever wanted for anything in their life, he just needed something to do so he wouldn’t be bored.
He decided to take to the roofs today, running, jumping, and flipping, just to keep his abilities up. He jumped down into an alley, and came out of it and walked the last block to the bar.
Why was he able to do this? Because he wasn’t human. He used to be, but he wasn’t anymore. He was a Homunculus, a created human. His old name was Envy, and he used to have green hair to match what went with his name. But now it was long and blond. He used his old human form on a regular basis, now, changing only if it was absolutely necessary. He went by Julian Hohenheim, his old name.
He pulled the door to the bar open and went in. It was frequented by soldiers, none of whom he knew outside of being a regular here. He walked to the closet, hung up his coat, and went behind the bar. “Alright you drunken bastards! I’m here so stop being cruel to poor little Tammy.” He said. Tammy was the evening bartender. She was small, but feisty enough to give back what was sent her way.
“Julian, about my tab…” one of the soldiers, short, blond, and generally nondescript started.
“You know the policy, Jimmy! Tabs get paid at the end of the week!” He cracked his knuckles and sneered just like he used to when he was genuinely threatening a certain small alchemist for effect.
Jimmy paled. Clearly he’d lost his sense of humor with that last beer. He was new, but the guys on either side of him knew he was joking. “M-m-m-my paycheck got delayed! I-I-I’ll pay, really I will!” He slid back away from him. He had misjudged where his stool ended though, and fell back onto the floor.
Everyone cracked up. One helped the guy up, and back onto his stool. “I’m kidding, man. I happen to know first hand that the Payroll department at Central’s understaffed. I’ll cut you some slack,” Julian said, grinning.
“You’re cruel, Julian, really you are.” Said an older man to Jimmy’s right.
“Oh, you’re too kind,” he replied. “What’ll it be for you?” he asked as another man came in after a day’s work.
He didn’t really look at the man for a minute. When he noticed who it was, he recoiled. Dark hair, slicked back, glasses, that blasted smile. “Why hello, Julian.”
“Er… Hello Lieutenant Colonel Hughes…” he said, suddenly nervous. After working with the man for a few months, he knew why he had been told to get rid of him. The man was cunning, and could probably read anyone like a book. Julian was one of his field operatives, taking advantage of the fact that he had the ultimate cover.
“Don’t want to work to hard, Julian. Otherwise your girl will worry about you. Scotch on the rocks.”
“Right, right,” he said, keeping up the façade that he wasn’t who he was. The number of people that knew who he was could be counted on two hands, and he wanted to keep it that way.
He set to making the drink. “What’s an officer of your rank doing in a dive like this?” he asked.
“I wanted to try someplace new.” He said. That look in his eyes, Julian had learned meant that there was more to his words than what was said.
Julian had to try real hard not to get so mad as to break the glass as he poured. He hated that look. It was times like this he wanted to beat Mustang to within an inch of his life for even suggesting he work for him.
“Why so tense?” Hughes asked as he was given his drink. “It’s a Thursday night. Saturday you get to be with your girl all day.”
Dammit, the bastard knows how I spend my time now? “How’s your daughter, sir?” he asked, trying to take the subject off of him.
“Oh! I’m so glad you asked!” the man’s tone elevated, as he reached into his breast pocket and produced pictures. “I took her shopping last weekend and we found the cutest dresses for her! Daisies and lilies and lilacs all over them! She just loves flowers! I think she’s going to become a florist when she grows up.” He splayed the pictures out on the bar. The soldiers nearby were either staring openly, or too drunk to notice the display of fatherly love. Hughes spread his hands out. “Imagine: Flowers by Elysia It’s got such a great ring to it, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel…” Julian said. He didn’t know what was worse. When the man was using his investigator’s tricks on him, or when he was talking about his daughter.
“Hey Julian! What’s with the rank? General Mustang came in the other day and you treated him like us!” said a Major from a few seats down the bar.
“He’s special! Mind your business!”
“So he came to see you?” Hughes asked, pocketing the pictures again.
“Yeah, he did. He seemed thoroughly amused by me serving these ingrates.” He pointed with his thumb toward the other end of the bar.
“We’re not ingrateful!” piped up one of the few civilians that dared sit at Julian’s bar.
“Yeah, then why’s my tip jar so empty, huh?” He jammed the aforementioned jar in front of the man.
“What did he tell you?” Hughes asked.
“That he and Ed are doing fine. They’re still at Southern HQ. Roy says being in charge there is more boring than out at Eastern.”
Hughes laughed. “That sounds like Roy.”
“You didn’t answer my question, before. What are you doing here?”
“Just checking in on my favorite bartender.” He said as he slid off the stool.
“Leaving already?”
“Gracia’s waiting. See you again later sometime, Julian.” He waved as he walked out the door.
Fuck you, you crazy bastard. He thought to himself as he dumped the ice out of the glass Hughes had left behind.
At the end of the night, around 4 a.m., he went home again. By then, he knew Winry’d be back from her shop, and they’d get to talk.
“I’m back!” he called as he came in the door. It was a small apartment, but it worked. She had her drafting space for her automail designs, and that was really all they needed extra.
“I’m in here, Julian!” she called from the bedroom, where the drafting table was. “Guess what happened?” she said as he appeared in the doorway. She was extremely excited about something.
“What is it that’s got you so excited?” he said as he walked up to hug her.
“Someone in the brass found my shop and was impressed by my work. From now on, I have a contract with the military. They will pay if any of their soldiers needs automail. Not if they just want to be stronger, but if they actually need it.”
“That’s great, Winry!” He squeezed her extra tight. Oh, if only that officer knew how long that contract would really last.
Due to the events that lead to their being put together, Winry was... special. She was half-homunculus, half-human, but the only telltale sign of this was the tattoo on her chest. She rarely wore anything with a lower neckline to hide it from prying eyes. She had the ability to reverse alchemical processes, as well as heal both homunculus and human. She used it in her automail work to lessen the pain of the surgery for her patients. She also had the immortality that came with it.
“I talked to Ed.” She said, letting him go and turning back to her work. Julian just stood behind her, watching. “He says he’s happy with Roy. I guess everything’s worked out for the best!”
“Yeah, that’s what Mustang told me. Hey, you’ve been working on that all day, come to bed with me.” He tugged at the hand that wasn’t holding the pencil.
“Alright,” she grinned as she let him pull her to the bed. He laid down and she curled up against him, closing her eyes and smiling. While neither of them actually needed to sleep, they sometimes just laid like this together, just enjoying each other’s company.
When the sun rose, Julian shifted himself into his uniform. “It’s going to be late tonight, he said before heading out the door. “Hughes has a mission for me tonight. I won’t be going in to the bar, so could you tell Richard I’m sick or something?”
“Sure thing! Seeya!” she didn’t need to go in to her shop for another few hours.
He decided to take a cab to HQ, not feeling like walking that day.
Soon, he arrived in the office. Already there was Hughes, of course, and another one of his men, Second Lieutenant Kinsey. Kinsey was young, fresh out of the academy, and bright.
“Major Hohenheim reporting for duty, sir,” Julian said. Such formalities came automatically to him at this point, and he had an apathetic attitude about it.
He never could shake that look Kinsey gave him whenever his last name was mentioned. That Hohenheim bastard’s dead, kid. Stop looking at me like that. Of course there was nothing in the records to say either way. Officially, Von Hohenheim, or Hohenheim of Light, was still missing.
Julian didn’t really worry about the kid prying into his past, because the bio in his personnel file (safely locked away in a special cabinet behind Hughes’s desk that only Hughes had the key to) was rock solid, if not entirely fictional.
“Ah, Julian! Just in time!” Hughes said as he stood and started gathering papers. “Remember that murderer we’ve been after for the last three days?”
“Yeah, what about him?” he said as he went to his desk to deposit his trench coat.
“His accomplice was arrested last night. I was just about to go down and interview her. I want you to come with. Your ability to tell when people are lying is even better than mine. I want you to watch her.”
“Yes, sir,” he said. He followed Hughes to the brig, where the man was waiting in one of the interrogation rooms. They moved past the guard posted at the door, and entered the room.
The only thing that surprised him about the situation was that the person was a woman. She looked scared to him, and he found a corner to stand in, behind where Hughes sat.
“Miss Browning, correct?” Hughes said in a friendly sort of tone. He seemed to pick up on the woman’s fear as well.
She nodded.
“No need to be afraid of us, alright? We’re not going to hurt you, and we won’t let anyone hurt you.” Hughes reassured her as he pulled out a pad of paper to take notes.
“Who’s that?” she asked. Julian could barely hear her.
“Him?” Hughes asked, pointing at Julian. “He’s my subordinate, Julian. He’s just here to watch.”
She fell silent again, looking at her hands in her lap. Her clothes and face were dirty, as if she’d spent a lot of time on the run.
“So tell me where you were at 3 o’ clock on Tuesday afternoon,” Hughes started.
“I was working,” she said simply.
“Where?”
“At the butcher shop.”
“Is there anyone that can provide an alibi?”
She hesitated, then shook her head.
She’s lying… but she’s scared too… Julian thought to himself. He shifted his weight from one foot to another, the sound of which was his signal to Hughes that she wasn’t being entirely truthful.
“Are you sure?” Hughes asked.
She hesitated again. “My brother.”
“What’s his name?” He started writing.
“Gene… Gene Carlsbad.” She replied.
“Good. Now where did you go when you got off of work?”
“I…” she started but stopped herself.
“You don’t need to worry about anything happening to you,” Hughes said gently. “If anyone said they’d hurt you if you spoke up we need to know who so we can protect you from them.”
She nodded. She looked about ready to cry. “He… He did it! My brother killed that poor girl. He made me swear not to tell or he said I’d be next. He wanted to stash the body in the meat locker but I wouldn’t let him. He said he’d get me and so I went into hiding. You gotta believe me!” she was now crying profusely.
Hughes turned to Julian. The younger man nodded. Hughes got up and went to her side of the table. “It’s alright. We won’t let him hurt you, okay? We’ll put you up in the military housing for now. We’ll have guards posted at your building around the clock. You’re safe now.” He rubbed her shaking shoulders and she cried into her dress sleeves.
“Well, she dodged a bullet.” Hughes said later on in the office. “I’m putting you on her case, Julian. I want you to check in on her on your way to the sting tonight.”
“Will do,” he said from his own desk, which his feet were propped up on. “So what else is there for today?” Julian was enjoying the fact that he didn’t have Kinsey’s suspicious eyes on him.
It was short-lived though. “Sir, that murderer struck again.” Kinsey burst in.
“It’s not the witness is it?” Hughes said, standing. Julian pulled his legs off the desk.
“No, sir. She’s secure.”
“Kinsey, you stay here and field calls. Julian, come with me.” Hughes said, leaving the office.
Julian followed him all the way to the murder site, only two steps behind. The area was taped off, and there was a body under a sheet.
Hughes and Julian each crouched on either side of her. Hughes pulled back the sheet and took a look at the woman’s face. He blinked for a moment, because she bore a striking resemblance to the woman they had just interviewed.
“You noticed it too?” Julian said, seeing his reaction.
Hughes nodded. The look on his face clearly said that the gears in his head were turning.
Julian looked around the vicinity and found the woman’s purse, which was already open. Inside, he found her wallet and found an answer to why she looked the way she did. Inside was a picture. There were three people. The woman they had just interviewed, the woman who was now dead, and a man. The back of the picture read “Gene, Carol, and Lucy - 1915”.
“Sir,” Julian passed the picture over to Hughes.
“This our man?” Hughes asked him as he flipped it over.
“I think so. This woman must be another sister.”
“She must have known something…” Hughes trailed off.
Julian looked back down at the woman. The blond of her hair was the same as Winry’s. It sent a chill up his spine, but he knew such a situation would be impossible. The only man that could hurt her that way was dead.
He lifted the sheet and saw the uniform that she was wearing. “Sir, I recognize this uniform. It’s to that café not far from Richard’s Bar.”
Hughes nodded. “I’ll get a warrant to search the place. It’s likely that he tried to work over his other sister to help him hide the first body, but she likely tried to come to us about it, and he murdered her.” Hughes stood up. He went to the radio. “Kinsey, do you read me?”
“Yessir,” Kinsey’s voice said after a moment.
“Put a rush on that search for Mr. Carlsbad. He’s definitely got another victim.”
“Yessir!”
Hughes gave the radio back to the Sergeant he had taken it from. He went back to the body.
“Julian!” Hughes called, writing quickly in his notebook. “I want you to go and talk to the other employees of that café. Try to determine if anyone else is in danger. Come back to the office with what you find out.” He gave him the picture.
“Sure thing,” he said as he pulled the sheet back over the body, and walked in that direction. It wasn’t far, only a few blocks. He hid his face as he passed Richard’s.
He walked into the café. One of the other waitresses was holding another, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Clearly, they had just gotten the news. He knew that he was going to have to be delicate about this, which was not his strong suit.
“Ladies, I need to talk to you,” he said.
They eyed him warily. “I’m here to help.” He added. “Can you come have a seat?” He sat at an empty table and patted it for them to join him.
“Could I have your names please?” He started.
“I’m Janine Anderson, and she’s Clara Gilliam,” said a redheaded woman as the other was wiping her eyes and blowing her nose with her handkerchief.
“When was the last time you saw Miss Carlsbad?” he asked.
“When she got off her shift last night.” Janine supplied. “She seemed anxious about something. She even left a couple hours early.
“Does the man in this picture look familiar to any of you?” he asked as he pulled it out of his chest pocket.
The one that was sobbing gasped, and the other chewed on her lip. “Well… the thing is…” Janine started. “He came by last night, and pulled her aside. They had a shouting match, and then he left all pissed off. She hung around for another couple of hours and then asked the boss if she could cut out early. Is he the one that killed her?”
“Just tracking down leads,” he said evasively. “Did he say anything to either of you?”
“Not really,” Clara finally spoke up. “I was the one he asked to talk to Carol.”
He nodded. “Anything about what you saw last night that differs from this picture?”
“He’s got a great big scar running down his face. It looks new, so it must’ve happened since the picture was taken.” Janine said.
“Thank you ladies.” He reached in his pants pocket and pulled out two cards. “If you need to tell us anything else, or if you need protection, call this number right away. Someone will answer.”
They thanked him, and he left. He started back toward the office, but since Winry’s shop was on the way, he decided to stop in.
“Julian!” she said brightly. She looked up from where she was adjusting a young-man’s leg.
“Just decided to stop in and see how things were going.” He said with a smile. The young man looked up at him in awe. It had to be the uniform.
“Everything’s fine.” She looked him up and down. “What’s that on your shoe?”
He looked down. He had apparently stepped in some blood. But there were no wounds on the body.
“I gotta go.” He suddenly said. He ran out the door. He had to check something.
“Julian!” Winry called after him, but he was already running toward the crime scene again. He skidded to a stop in front of the alley. He went under the tape and looked around the alley. There was indeed a healthy amount of blood. He searched the body, and there were no cuts large enough to cause this much blood. He looked around through the garbage that was piled there. Soon, he found what he was looking for. A small folding knife, open and bloody.
So she was trying to protect herself. “Sergeant! Bring me a radio!” he called to an MP standing nearby. It soon came and he tuned it to the proper frequency. “Hughes, sir, it’s Julian.”
“Go ahead.” Hughes’s voice crackled.
“I found a knife, sir. Clearly Carol tried to defend herself and got a good slice in. It’s likely that he’s still wounded.”
“Good job, Julian! Keep asking around out there. I’m going to send Kinsey to check his last place of residence. Report to me with whatever else you find out.”
“Yessir,” he passed the radio back to who he had taken it from.
He bagged the knife carefully, wrote the case number on it and passed it to the MP. “Make sure that gets to Hughes’s office.” He went to a nearby 24 hour pharmacy, called Johnson’s Drugs.
He asked around about if anyone had heard anything late the night before, including some residents of some nearby apartments, but he came up with nothing, except for an alchemist, who had been up late experimenting, had just heard screams. The boy’s name was familiar somehow, though he couldn’t place where it had come from for a while. Russell Tringham… oh! They were trying to make the Stone in that desert town out East.
“This doesn’t have any bearing on this case, but do you know an Edward Elric?” Julian asked. He contained a smirk.
“I’ve heard of him. I mean, who hasn’t. The youngest State Alchemist ever, you know.”
“I’m aware,” he said. “Nothing else?”
“Nope. I just know what’s been reported in the papers.”
“Trying to compete?”
“It’s always good to have a goal.” Russell said with a grin that meant more than was said.
Julian left the Tringhams, more to give the timid little brother a break from being weirded out by the strange soldier, and went back to the office.
“Find anything else?” Hughes asked from his desk. He was busy writing quickly.
Julian looked through his notes. “Just a report of some screams around 5 this morning. Also, the pharmacist near the scene says a bleeding man came in asking for bandages and aspirin. He took them and ran off somewhere. But I expected that. The blood on the door confirmed it.”
Hughes nodded. He steepled his fingers and thought a moment.
It was then that Kinsey returned. “No one at the apartment.” He said.
Hughes bounced the end of his pen against his desk. “Julian, go ask Miss Lucille if she knows of any place her brother might run to if he were in trouble. Names and addresses if you can get them. Kinsey, check the hospitals to see if anyone matching Gene’s description was admitted.”
“Yessir,” they chorused and walked down the hall together to leave the building.
“You want to come drinking with me tonight? We’ve been in the same office for a couple months now and I don’t think we’ve gone to hang out once,” Kinsey suggested.
“I can’t tonight. The Lieutenant Colonel has a sting for me.” Julian answered flatly. He didn’t like the other man. Not. At. All.
“Oh, that’s too bad. I just wanted to get to know a little more about you,” his said silkily.
“Mmm…” he responded. All his old instincts were coming back, and he fought to suppress them. The hand on the opposite side of his body from where Kinsey walked fisted.
“So you’re Hughes’ wiz kid, huh? Where was it you were stationed before you came here again?” He didn’t like the light in his eyes as he spoke.
“Eastern, under General Mustang.” By now the response was automatic.
“How come you didn’t come here with his other subordinates?”
Damn, you’re a nosy bastard. We’ve covered this about six times this month! “Because General Hakuro requested that I stay. I came to Central a little before I started working for the Lieutenant Colonel.”
“You helped General Mustang and Lieutenant Colonel Elric bring down Scar, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he replied. Those front doors wouldn’t come close soon enough.
“You brought him down yourself, didn’t you? You and some gi-“
Julian pushed Kinsey into a side room, a records room, and empty. He pushed him up against the wall. Some binders toppled off the shelves on impact. “You keep your mouth shut about me, alright? I can make it so that even the Lieutenant Colonel wouldn’t be able to find you.” He growled, seriously considering letting his Homunculus features show. His aim was to scare him into keeping his mouth shut. Defiant eyes looked back.
“Got something to hide, huh? Trying to weasel your way into the brass’s good graces?” Kinsey challenged.
“Bullshit!” Julian spat. “I might have to call your loyalties into question too, if you pry too deep.”
Kinsey kept that smug look on his face. Julian debated wiping it off with his fist. He pushed him harder against the wall, uniform fisted. They just glared, each daring the other to try something.
Julian let him go after a minute. He turned and went back out the door, leaving Kinsey to make himself presentable again.
His mood wasn’t likely to improve anytime soon. Maybe when he saw Winry, it might. He was considering stopping by to see her again if he got the opportunity.
He went to the apartment, and after being cleared to enter, he walked in. “Hello again,” he said with a bit of a friendly smile. He did things like this to get his job done.
“Ah, I remember you. You’re… I’m sorry I don’t think Mr. Hughes said your name.” By now she was cleaned up, and looking much more like the woman in the picture with her siblings.
“Major Julian Hohenheim, miss,” he said as he sat on the sofa next to her. “Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions?”
“Not at all. Go ahead.” She kept smiling. Oh dammit, I think she’s got an infatuation with me. Ah well, at least she’ll cooperate.
“Do you know of any place your brother might go if he were in trouble? Any old hangouts as a kid, anything like that?”
She gasped. “Is he okay?” she asked.
“We don’t know. We need to find him to know for sure.”
Just then, the phone rang. “I’ll get it,” Julian volunteered. He picked it up off of the end table. “Hello?” he said in a different voiced than usual.
“Who is this?” demanded a male voice. It’s him.
“It’s who you called,” Julian maintained the fake voice.
“Let me talk to Lucy, is she there?”
“Yeah, but she’s busy right now. Can I take a message?”
“PUT HER ON THE FUCKING PHONE!!!” he screamed.
Lucy had heard that. “Gene!” she gasped.
“I heard her! Put her on the line you asshole!”
Julian covered the receiver with his hand. “Try to find out where he is.” He whispered, then handed the phone to her. How did he get this number? He asked himself as she nodded.
“Gene?” she asked. She sounded ready to cry.
She just said “Mm-hmm…” several times in a row. “Be careful, Gene. I love you!” was the last thing she said before Julian heard the dial tone.
“Do you know where he is?” Julian said as he took the phone from her.
She was silent, tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked at her hands in her lap.
Julian reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “If he’s hurt as bad as we think he is, he needs a doctor. He won’t get one as long as he’s on the lam.”
She took a deep, shaky breath. “He’s… in an inn on the west side of town. Patrick’s, he said the name was.” And the sobs returned anew. “He also told me,” she seemed determined to speak regardless of her vocal condition, “That he had killed Carol, my younger sister. Did you know that?”
He nodded.
She looked at him with incredulous eyes. “You knew? You knew and you didn’t tell me?” She stood up.
“Lucy-“
“I helped you all along, and you didn’t even tell me my own sister was dead, at the hands of my brother. I’m the oldest! I’m supposed to protect them! I got them away from that lying, thieving, drunken bastard when we were all kids and then this happens!” She collapsed onto the floor not far from the couch. Julian crouched in front of her, letting her let it out. She clung to him, sobbing into his shoulder.
“My youngest brother died…” Julian started. He pushed her away and looked at her. “It was an accident, but it was my fault. My other brother almost died too. But he’s alright now, and he’s forgiven me. I haven’t forgiven myself. I don’t think I ever will. You can still protect your younger brother by helping us. If we don’t find him soon, there’s a possibility he might bleed to death. Carol had a knife with her when he attacked her. Also, if he cooperates with us, he might escape a hanging. What do you say?” He looked her in the eyes the whole time, and they registered shock when he told her about the knife.
“I… see…” she said, looking down at her hands again.
“Was it usual for Carol to have a knife with her?” Julian asked, standing and offering a hand to help her up.
She accepted it, and pulled herself up. “No. She only used a knife one other time. When we escaped from our father. She stabbed him more times than I could count. If she had that knife with her, that meant she was serious about what was going on. I’ll still help you, because that’s what Carol would want.”
She was still shaky on her legs, so he led her by the hand back to the couch. “Thank you. Is there anything else he told you about his location?’
“No,” she said, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief.
“Let one of the guards answer the phone for you if it rings. It’s most likely going to be me, my associate, or Lieutenant Colonel Hughes.”
“Alright. Thank you, Major.”
Julian left, taking one of the guards’ radios with him.
“Sir? He called the safe house.”
“Where have you been?” Hughes sounded almost rattled.
“Interviewing Lucy, why?”
“The problem has escalated. He’s held up a shop downtown and is holding everyone inside as hostages. He’s got a gun to the owner’s head.”
“Which one? I’ll be right there!” He started running down the stairs.
“Julian… its Winry.”
He came to a halt. “What did you just say?”
“Keep your cool, Julian. We have the situation under control. If you act irrationally I’ll have you locked in the office.”
“As if your stupid locks could hold me.”
“Julian…”
“I need to be there. If he pisses her off too much, she’ll probably kill him if that other woman comes out. I’m the only one that can keep her calm enough. Send me in as a negotiator.”
“Only if you can keep yourself under control and not kill him.”
“I make no promises.” Julian growled.
Hughes sighed. “Alright, but don’t mess this up.”
Julian dropped the radio, letting it break on its tumble down the stairs. He ran as fast as he could, taking to the roofs once he hit the street. He didn’t care who saw him, they wouldn’t be able to see him long enough to look twice.
He dropped down into the alley further down the block, and ran down the sidewalk. “Let me in there.” He demanded of the commander of the MPs.
“You from investigations? Hughes said he was sending someone.”
“That’s me.”
“I’m going to have to take your gun from you. He wouldn’t take too kindly to anyone going in armed.”
“Fine, fine.” It’s not like I need a gun to kill him. I can do that with my own two hands.
Julian entered the shop, and the first thing he saw was Gene holding Winry around her neck. The gun was now pointed at him. He put his hands up to show he came in peace.
“Turn around!” Gene demanded. Julian obeyed. After a moment he turned to face the front.
“Can we talk now?” Julian asked, his anger bubbling at the surface. He lowered his hands and looked at Winry. Her eyes were still normal, so that meant that she hadn’t come out yet. This was good, but he wasn’t sure how long it would last.
There was someone else living inside her body, and that person had all of the malice and cruelty of the Homunculus. She could easily kill both human and Homunculus when she was like that. Her very blood was caustic to both.
“I want safe passage out of the city.” Gene demanded. “And 10,000,000 cenz.”
“You’re aware of our policy regarding hostage takers, right?” Julian said, a sickening grin forming on his face. Winry cowered. This side of him hadn’t come out in a long time.
Envy stepped toward Gene. He let his true Homunculus features show. The man got scared and fired. Julian pretended like they actually killed him, and dropped to the floor.
Winry screamed. Julian could hear the commotion the shots caused outside. The only window was the glass in the door. All they could see from there was some of the cowering hostages.
Envy used the fact he was on the floor to his advantage. He grabbed hold of a leg of a chair right by where his hand had fallen.
“You won’t give me what I want? Fine! The girl dies!” he pointed the gun at her head and was about to pull the trigger, but the hand clamped over the muzzle of the gun distracted him.
It was Winry. A transmutation circle glowed on her hand, and the gun disappeared into nothing. “I’m afraid you’ll find me much harder to kill than that.”
Envy threw the chair, hitting Gene in the head, knocking him to the floor. He got back up, bullet holes still intact, and pulled Winry away from Gene.
“Let go of me!” She snapped. She clamped her hand on his arm and a different circle glowed for a moment, and pain coursed through his arm. As she held him, he grit his teeth and bore it, not willing to scream.
“I’m… not letting go… of you…” he grunted.
Parts of his arm started falling away as ash. She was neutralizing the power of the red stones inside of him.
She pressed her other hand to his chest, right on one of the bullet holes, and the same circle began to glow there. That was pain he couldn’t take. He screamed, and dropped to his knees. She kept her hands on him, and parts of his chest started falling away as ash as well.
“Winry!” he grunted. “It’s me!”
“She can’t hear you,” the different voice in Winry’s body said.
“Let her out, Purgatory!” He grunted again against the pain. It wouldn’t be too much longer until half his torso was severed. His hand had already dropped off and turned to ash. When she let go, he’d be able to regenerate, if it were in time.
Purgatory had been her name. Somewhere between heaven and hell.
Envy used his free hand to grab her by the front of her shirt. He was going to stop her the only way he knew how.
But in that moment, Gene came up from behind her with his garroting wire and wrapped it around her neck. He pulled her off of him, and kept his grip on the wire tight.
All Envy could do is watch as his body regenerated. He ignored the gasps and screams from the hostages. Hughes would take care of that.
She didn’t lose that icy, placid demeanor, as she grabbed hold of his neck and squeezed. It didn’t take long for him to let go of the wire and hold onto her arm with his, in a futile attempt to pull her off of him.
Envy jumped up and used all his strength to push her off of him. He dropped to the floor, but she only took a step back.
He turned to her and grabbed her by the wrist. He yanked her toward him and kissed her. This is the only way he knew to bring his Winry back.
It worked. Her eyes returned to a normal shape, if not still purple. She smiled. “Thanks,” she said.
He turned to Gene, who was still coughing from his near-choking. “Will you give yourself up now?”
Gene shook his head. “Why should I do that?”
“Because that is your only option right now. It’s either that or I kill you right here on the spot.”
“He was right… you aren’t human.”
“Who?” Envy narrowed his eyes at him.
Gene laughed. “You don’t know, do you?”
Envy grabbed him by the neck and pushed him to the floor. “Who is it?!”
“I’ll never tell …” he grunted.
“You sure as hell will tell me, if you value your life!”
“Hah! You say that like they won’t hang me anyway. I killed my own sister! I’m a monster in the eyes of any jury! Either you kill me now or the State kills me later. Those are your only options.”
Envy growled.
“Do it, Julian.” Winry said from behind. “He’s right. Let him die on his own terms.”
“I can’t do that. I promised Lucy he’d stand trial. That’s what he’ll do.” Envy lifted Gene by his neck, and dragged him to the door. He tossed him out, and he was immediately set upon and cuffed by waiting MPs.
Envy glance through the crowd that was watching. Beyond the sea of black uniforms were some blue. Julian recognized a few of them. Hughes, Ross, Bloche,… and Kinsey. Julian turned his eyes back to blue as he made his way toward him. “All clear, sir,” Julian said to Hughes with a salute.
Hughes returned it. “Well done. Are all of the hostages secure?”
“Yes, sir, no one was harmed.”
“Good. You have the day off until tonight for that sting. Use it well.” He winked and walked to his car.
Julian turned to Kinsey. “There’re things about this case that confuse me,” Julian said.
“What’s that?” The younger man had a grin on his face that he knew exactly what he was talking about.
“The phone call to the safe house, the fact that Winry was targeted, and that guy said the strangest thing while I was detaining him.”
“Really? What’d he say?”
“He insinuated that someone had told him something about me.”
Kinsey grinned. “I only guided him along to see how you’d dance if the tune changed. I led him to the sister. I gave him the number to the apartment. I’d say it all went well. You’re definitely not human. I wonder what the General would have to say about this…”
“Watch your ass, kid,” Julian growled. “You’re right, I’m not human. I’m better than that. You’ll see just how good I can be later on… if you’re not scared.”
“So you finally admit it? Aw… you ruined all my fun! What is it you have in mind.”
“Come to the sting tonight. You’ll see.”
Julian walked away. Either he was going to end up with another ally in all this, or he was going to have a body to get rid of. Either way was fine with him.
He spent the few hours between when he was dismissed and when he was needed again venting his frustrations on some large trees in a forested area. He punched, kicked, and generally treated them like he would any of his old victims.
Eventually his head cooled down again, he shifted into his disguise, a very tall, blond, woman, and made his way to the sting. He was wearing a red dress with a short skirt, and a black bolero jacket over it. He headed toward the apartment where they had planned to meet.
He opened the door and saw Hughes buttoning himself into a vest from a civilian suit. He started when he saw him. “J-Julian?”
“Yeah, what about it?” he said in his own voice.
Hughes fidgeted with his wedding ring, which he was actually wearing for once. “Don’t let Gracia see you. She might start asking questions.”
“Yeah, yeah…” he said. He sat in a chair in a rather unladylike fashion.
Hughes spluttered. “Julian! You’re a girl.”
“Oh yeah,” he crossed his legs. “Better?”
“Yes, now let’s go.” He pulled on the mechanism that allowed him to stow his knives in his sleeves, and pulled a suit jacket over it.
They went down to a restaurant, and sat in a window seat. Across the avenue was a place where a people trafficking ring was due to make an exchange.
They played it like Hughes was cheating on his wife, and they were all lovey-dovey about it. It made Julian sick, but it was part of the job. He hoped that Kinsey was watching, so he knew why he had to keep who he was a secret.
“They’re here,” Julian said, glancing out of the corner of his eye.
“Right on time. Let’s go, honey,” he stood and offered his hand, which Julian took, they both having finished their dinner. They crossed the street at a nearby corner, and walked toward them.
“Ten thousand? Bullshit! I won’t take less than 100,000!” one of them shouted.
It looked like a fight was going to break out. Julian made like he bumped into them and fell on his butt. “Ow…” he complained, rubbing his butt.
“Here, let me help you, Julia.” Hughes said as he bent to help ‘her’ up.
“What do you think you’re doing, asshole?” said one of the thugs as Hughes nudged past them.
“Just trying to walk past you all. Oh, hello ladies!” he said to the two frightened girls in the middle of the circle of men.
He pulled Julian to his feet and they started to keep walking.
“I can’t just let you go like that…” said the one in the tackiest suit of them all.
“Why not?” Hughes asked, sounding generally confused.
“I know who you are. You’re Maes Hughes, head of the investigations department at Central!” the leader challenged. Some of the thugs started looking scared.
Hughes smiled. “If you know who I am, then you know what’s coming to you.” He twitched his elbow, and a dagger dropped out of his sleeve into his hand.
The leader grabbed Julian and held him at knifepoint. Julian’s patience was wearing thin for this act, however, and he just pulled him up and flipped him over his head to the concrete. He turned to the others. “Anyone else curious as to what concrete tastes like?”
Guns came out now. Hughes raised his hands, first so they wouldn’t shoot him right away, second, as his signal to the others. In just slightly more than one minute, MPs, Kinsey, and a myriad of others would converge on the scene. But a lot can happen in a minute.
The leader was groaning on the ground behind Hughes, and Julian stood there, just watching. His hands weren’t up.
“Hey, hands in the sky, bitch!” said one of the thugs. He pointed his gun more directly at what he thought was a woman.
Julian only glared. But he heard a suspicious sound from behind. He turned just in time to see the leader level his gun at Hughes’ back.
Julian rammed his shoulder into Hughes, knocking him to the ground. The shot found a home in his thigh, right where the Ouroborous symbol would have been if he wasn’t actively hiding it.
Hughes flung an arm out and put a couple knives into the leader’s chest, in nonlethal areas. “Julian!” Hughes shouted as he pushed the groaning boy off of him. He had released his disguise and he looked like the green haired boy in black. The thugs were very confused. The girls screamed.
“I’ll be alright,” he grunted. He stuck his fingers into the wound and pulled out the bullet so his leg could heal. “How about you?”
Just then, the MPs showed up and surrounded the scene. “You alright sir?” Kinsey asked as he handcuffed the leader.
“Yes, thanks to Julian.” He was brushing the dirt off of his suit. He noticed Julian had bled on him. “Ah! How am I going to explain these stains to Gracia?”
Julian didn’t bother re-disguising himself. He was panting, and the pain in his leg was slowly ebbing away.
“Julian?” Hughes said, putting a hand on his shoulder, and trying to meet his eyes.
“You’re just fucking lucky that you can still face her.” He said more nastily than he’d intended.
Soon, all the criminals were locked in the paddywagon, and Kinsey smacked the back door as a signal the driver could leave. The girls were being taken into protective custody, and they were in a separate car.
Kinsey walked up to where Julian sat on the curb. He had used some time while others were distracted to hide in an alley and change into his uniform again. He sat next to him. “Alright, I’ll lay off.” Kinsey said. “But only if you tell me the whole story.”
Julian looked at him. “I’m a Homunculus. A person created with alchemy. I have all the same makeup of a person, the only thing is I have no soul. There used to be more of us, but a few months back, when the Fuhrer died, that was when we got rid of them. I used to be just as evil as the rest of them. But Winry helped get me away from that. She lost most of her humanity in the process, but it means that we will always be together.”
“So that would explain the fact that you’ve been shot three times today and didn’t bite it.”
“Guns are a laugh.” He said. “I much prefer a good old fashioned beating.”
“So how long have you been around?”
“A little more than a hundred years.”
“Wow…” Kinsey put a hand to his chin in thought.
Julian stood up and grabbed his wrist. He flipped him in much the same way he had done to the gang leader.
“What was that for?” Kinsey groaned from the street.
“That was for putting Winry in harm’s way! And for the death of that woman you slimy bastard! Hughes will hear of this, either from me or from the culprit. You deserve worse!”
He started to walk away, but he turned. At this point, Kinsey was on his knees, a hand holding his back. “And yes, that bastard is my father, so you can stop giving me that look.” He added.
He turned and made his way back to he and Winry’s apartment. He hoped she was home by now.
The next morning, there was a knock on the door. Envy got out of bed and opened the door, wearing pajamas and yawning. “Yes?”
At his door was a stern Hughes, Kinsey looking apologetic, and a looming General behind them. “Can I help you?”
The General pushed his way into the apartment. Winry appeared in the bedroom door. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“That’s some tattoo you have there, girl.” The General said, looking at Winry’s chest. Her tanktop revealed the symbol on her chest, the snake on a cross with another snake eating its tail around it.
She covered it with her hands.
Julian narrowed his eyes at Hughes. “What’s the meaning of this?”
“I’m sorry, Julian.” Hughes said genuinely.
“Julian Hohenheim, if that is your real name, do you have an explanation for the things that happened yesterday?” the General boomed.
“You said that if there were any mistakes or slipups you’d handle it, Maes,” Julian hissed. The other man remained silent.
“I asked you a question, Major.”
Julian then glared at the older man. “What event are you referring to? I had a busy day yesterday, sir.” He added the sir with as much of a disrespectful tone as he could manage.
“All of it! The hostages in the mechanic’s shop reported that you were shot, then started turning to ashes at her hand,” he pounted at Winry who clung tighter to Julian’s arm, “then you got up and almost killed the suspect! Then! During the capture of Don Santiago’s gang, they reported that you changed clothes, and gender on the spot! Explain yourself!”
“There is an alchemical process that allows me to take on pretty much whatever form I wish to,” Julian said. Just as he was good at telling when people were lying, he was just as good at lying.
“How about a demonstration, Major?” the General challenged.
Julian walked to an end table and pulled out a piece of cloth. It had a transmutation circle on it that Roy and Ed had masterminded for just such an occasion. The shapes included in it could theoretically allow a person’s clothes to change. He touched it, and shifted his form at the same time, into his uniform. While he, as a Homunculus could not do alchemy, his timing was so that it looked like he did.
“Satisfied?” he asked.
“No. Explain what happened in the automail shop. Not you! I want to hear it from her.” He again pointed at Winry.
“She has nothing to do with this. She is a civilian. She’s still recovering from the ordeal yesterday.”
“Its okay, Julian.” She said, stepping away from him.
“Go on…” the General crossed his arms.
“Julian was wearing a prototype of mine. It was body armor. When he got shot, it must have turned into powder. I suppose it was just enough of a success to save him…” she looked at her shoes as she clung to Julian’s arm again. Under his clothes, so no one could see the light of the action, he gave himself some bandages wrapped around his middle. Just in case.
“I’d like a look at that prototype, Miss…” he paused for her to give her name.
“Rockbell, Winry Rockbell.” She said, offering a hand to shake.
He ignored it. “Hughes, do I have your word that everything is on the up-an-up here?”
“Yes, General Faust, you do.”
“Alright, I’m satisfied. Good day, everyone.” Faust left, and Kinsey and Hughes remained.
“So are you going to tell him?” Julian said to Kinsey.
“Tell who, what?” Hughes asked, leveling that cool, calculating look at them both.
Do it, Chickenshit!
“Out with it! I don’t have all day!” he barked. That was a first for Julian.
“I… I was trying to get to Julian, to make him talk about who he was. I… was abetting Gene. I gave him the phone number for the safe house, and I suggested that he find Carol,” Kinsey suggested.
Hughes regarded him carefully. “Michael... I can’t stand for actions like that.”
“I know, sir, I regret it now.”
“That’s not enough! Lucy now has to live the rest of her life without two of her siblings! This isn’t a game, Second Lieutenant. I should have you arrested for this.”
“You’d be well within your rights, sir,” Kinsey stood at attention, but he couldn’t meet Hughes’ eyes.
Hughes plucked off his glasses and buffed the lenses with his handkerchief. “But you’re dead useful to me. Inexperienced and rash, but useful. I don’t know what to do with you right now. You’re dismissed until I call you back.”
“Yessir…” Kinsey made a salute that was not returned, and left.
“What are you going to do with him?” Julian asked.
“I’ll talk to Roy about it. As irresponsible as he is, he usually knows the best way to discipline in this sort of situation. I’d rather this not go to court, because then your past will be called into question. It’s likely that I’ll suspend him from duty for a few weeks, just to make him sweat.”
Julian nodded.
“This is your first slip, and what a slip to make.” He pushed his glasses back onto his face.
“I’m aware, sir.”
“You’re going to have goose-step around General Faust from now on.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Hughes made for the door. “Oh! Gracia invited you and Winry to dinner tomorrow night. She wants to thank you for making sure I came home last night.”
“We’d love to come, Mr. Hughes,” Winry smiled.
“Good! Elysia will be so excited!” He smiled, and shut the door behind himself.
Winry breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t think we’d run the risk of getting found out so soon.” She hugged him tight.
“I’m sorry. Are you still alright after what happened yesterday?”
She nodded. “I love you, Julian.”
“I love you too.”
X3