Priestess Alchemist

Chapter 19-Captured Children

.Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Edward was shaking with rage at the implications of his father being involved with something that had effected his entire life. His father. His father had helped start this whole goddamn mess. And as he stood there Kagome made a move to reach out to him, but he took a step back. The shift in emotions wasn't lost on Kagome. She'd been there before. She'd been there when she felt the need to blame her father for so much on bad days when her family could barely make ends meet, when Sota would look off sadly at their little family missing someone at his soccer games, and when it just felt better to blame someone else for what had gone wrong in her life. "Edward?"

"No." His heart hardened at the matter. "I shouldn't be surprised." One of the most prestigious alchemists that ever lived: his father. It all suddenly made sense, how much his father knew. It wasn't from years of diligent study, but centuries. He remembered the last time they'd been together for a photo op. His father had been crying when he'd lifted Edward up. Immortality couldn't exactly save you from seeing your loved ones die. "Son of a bitch!" He punched the wall of the building next to them. His metal arm rang back from the impact. Maybe if that bastard had stayed Edward would've never turned towards alchemy. Maybe Al would be fine... maybe... there were too many maybes and Edward had to fess up that his decisions had been his own. What's done is done and that bastard had been nothing but an empty spot on the photos afterwards. "He still should've stayed for her, if not us."

At that moment, Alphonse and Sota came around the bend. "Hey you guys!" Sota skidded to a halt, huffing and puffing and how far they'd run to keep up with the duo. "Where's the homunculi-kid?" Sota asked glancing about for any sign of their runaway. Of course, they'd lost him. What with the emotional discovery and that kid's ability to all but pass through a wall unphased.

Within the next heartbeat, Sota whipped out his staff that he'd been carrying and began swinging it behind Edward at a cloaked man who'd suddenly appeared right behind them.

"Oh, ho, ho! Swing a little bit harder and you might actually hit me." The voice wheezed the taunt as the green cloaked figure ducked and dodged in an eerily reptile-like manner. "Tucker sent me here to help." Sota paused mid-swing with the nose of the staff just an inch away from the stranger's face. "All of us freaks have to stick together. Especially when you sacrifice your own-" Edward punched the man in the nose and the hood was thrown back in the gravity of the blow.

"What the hell?" Kagome whispered, eyeing the splotchy green scaly skin. The eyes were pinpricks and the whites of the eye were so large. She held Edward's arm back so he wouldn't be tempted to hit again. The lizard man whipped away and took off crawling up the wall that Edward tried to transmute to trap him.

"Looked like an overgrown talking lizard... wait, do lizard people exist?" Sota asked staring stupidly up at where the creature had disappeared.

"Sota, it was a chimera," she deadpanned.

"Oh... that makes more sense." His eyes turned upon his sister brightly. "If we catch it, think I can keep him as a pet?"

"Yeah, that'll go over real well with dad." She wasn't even going to try imagining her brother asking their father for a pet human chimera.

As if it couldn't get any worse, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Archer stepped out from the corner of the alley with Armstrong after having listened to the group of teenagers bicker. The lieutenant stroked his chin in thought, "A chimera. Interesting. It must've escaped from warehouse five."

"Armstrong," stated Kagome.

"Priestess."

"You must've taken over our uncle's job."