The Alchemist Trap

Chapter Three

The next day Edward and Alphonse prepared to leave. They both agreed that they would just go back to Central and find a hotel there until the trains were going North again. They were about to leave the mansion when Marchello appeared by the door.

"Good morning masters Edward and Alphonse. I hope you slept well."

"Yes." Edward said "Thank you for letting us stay here but we don't want to overstay our welcome."

"We're going to go back to Central for a few days before heading to North City, Mr. Oliver." Alphonse explained.

"You haven't overstayed your welcome in the least." Marchello said quickly. "In fact I would be honored if you would stay for a few more days."

"We also want to do some alchemy research-" Edward started.

"I do have a small library with some alchemy texts. It's very modest compared to the one in Central but I hope it could be of some use to you."

"You do?" Ed said, interest obvious in his voice.

"Yes, right this way."

The brothers were lead to the library and like most parts of the mansion, modest was the last word to describe it. Shelves of books towered over them for three stories. Edward gleefully dove into the nearest shelf with Alphonse close behind. They searched across the massive expanse of shelves but after multiple hours, their search remained unfruitful.

"Why doesn't anyone have anything about alkahestry?" Edward groaned, slamming a book back onto the shelf. "Did you find anything Al?"

"No, there's nothing about Xing or alkahestry. Just normal alchemy."

"Great, we wasted the whole day." He swung his coat over his shoulder and started to walk to the door. "Come' on Al. Let's head back to the room." They walked out of the library and back into the corridor.

"It was surprising that Mr. Oliver had all those books on alchemy. He didn't say that he was an alchemist."

"Yeah, there were also some on the Philosopher's Stone but they were pretty vague. There was something kinda weird though. In them there were these handwritten notes about-wait Al?" Edward looked around. Alphonse, where'd you go?"

"In here, brother." Alphonse waved from a doorway. "I found another room."

"Are there anymore books?" Ed asked, coming over.

"No, I don't think so...huh?" Al pushed the door open wider. "Uh, Hi."

"Huh? Don't tell me you found a cat or something."

"No, there's a girl!"

Sure enough a girl sat on a small cot in the corner of the room. She wore a white blouse and a long brown skirt. Her light brown hair ran down her back in a braid. Her hazel eyes were wide with surprise.

"Who are you?!" The brothers and the girl said at once.

"I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." Edward started. "And this is my broth-"

"You're alchemists?! You both need to get out of here now!" The girl yelled. She jumped up and began to shove the brothers back. "Get out while you still can." She said more quietly.

"But why?" Alphonse asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's Marchello." She hissed. "If you don't want to end up dead, you need to go!"

"What has he done?" Edward questioned.

"Yes Maya. What have I done?" A voice said from behind them. The girl flinched as if she had been shocked.

The trio turned to face the door. In the doorway stood Oliver Marchello, flanked by two of his servants, each holding spears.

"H...He..." The girl stuttered and then fell silent.

Marchello disregarded her and continued. "Tsk tsk. I had hoped It wouldn't have to come to this but you leave me no choice. Don't you know not to stick your noses where they don't belong?" He snapped his fingers and the servants behind him pointed the tips of their spears towards the brothers. Marchello himself drew a long knife from his jacket and then he lunged.

Edward instinctively raised his right arm to block the blow. The blade sliced through the fabric of his jacket and scraped across his automail. During this exchange, Alphonse intercepted the two servants.

At first, Edward just dodged the wild knife swings. He knew however that it was time for a counter attack. He started to bring his hands together to transmute but he was stopped when an extended rod yanked his left arm away. One of the servants had hooked the staff of his spear around his arm to prevent him from transmuting. Ed stumbled back, kicking his right leg into the air to counter balance. Using his momentum he did a cartwheel but lost his balance as Marchello's knife slashed across his right shin.

Edward tumbled to the floor, landing on his chest. Quickly he pushed himself up and started to flip around, ready to rengage, when Marchello's knife thudded into his upper left shoulder. He fell to his knees, wincing in pain. Behind him Marchello readied for another blow. He brought the hilt for the knife down onto the back of Ed's neck, hard. Edward saw stars and then everything went black.