Seeking the Incomplete
By Marz
They Only Chase You if You Run
She didn't know how to do it without making a scene, so she didn't bother to try. She made sure everything was in order, the buttons on her jacket done one off, the ponytail way too far to the left with a whole lot of straggly hair hanging free on the right side, the bewildered expression. She wandered into the flow of people heading for the Central security checkpoint, and made sure to bump into as many as possible.
"Private Summers?" someone shouted.
"huh?" she asked.
A minute later, she was seated inside the security office, wrapped in a blanket and spilling coffee everywhere.
"What the hell happened to you?" one demanded.
"I'm gonna' be late for work," Summer said as dazedly as possible.
"You've been missing for a week," a Lieutenant whose name tag she couldn't read said. "I don't think they're going to care."
"What happened?" the first guy said again.
"I think somebody hit me," Summer finally said.
"Hit you?" Lt. Bicks asked, sticking his head in the door.
"Yeah…I don't know," Summer said. "I've got…like a big blank spot. I woke up in some building, and some guys helped me walk home. My head is killing me."
"You've got a handprint on your forehead," a Lt. informed her.
"What happened to the Solar Alchemist?" Bicks asked.
"Ollie?" she asked, though it pained her to play dumb about this. "Is he missing or something?"
"He's dead, Summers," a private said. "And you're the one who's been missing."
"Hu?"
"Do you need a doctor?" another asked. "You're a real mess."
"I've called her C.O.!"
Corporal Sung was brought in, and ordered Summer be brought to the infirmary, before passing the buck along to her C.O. and returning to the typing pool. Summer frowned a little at that, but she had expected as much. She and a growing escort headed for the infirmary; with so many people grabbing her elbows to 'help' her along that she didn't even have to play up the clumsiness anymore, because she was tripping over them every other step.
She was ordered out of her uniform into a hospital gown, and she managed to get most of her escort thrown out of the room for that. The alchemic symbol on her back had been painted over in henna with a black cat. Shezka and Winry had helped her out with the stain the night before. (Dorchet had volunteered but been kicked out.)
The doctors they brought in noted the tattoo, but they didn't seem as interested in it as they did the handprint on her forehead. The regeneration with the stones hadn't fixed that completely, though every injury she'd received after seemed to heal up fine. She'd wanted to ask Ed about it, but she hadn't been able to work up the nerve. Maybe she would when his face had healed up and he wasn't glaring at her with two blackened eyes.
She sat through much poking and prodding before the doctors came to the conclusion that they had no idea what was going on. By that time a few Colonels, and even a General had arrived to find out what was going on. She hoped she was drawing enough attention to let Ed slip through a back door with his report. It would be much easier to deal with vampires than it would with Ed.
"The x-ray shows a soft spot on her skull in the shape of a hand," one of the doctors announced. "And it matches exactly the marks we've found on Scar's other victims. Additionally, she has bits of bone shrapnel throughout her body. It was probably blown off her skeleton during the deconstruction reaction. She should be in agony right now. I've no idea how she survived."
"Ollie must've done something," Summer said.
The doctors jumped a little as if they'd forgotten she was there.
"Maybe," one of them said, doubtfully.
She was about to say something else nice about Oliver. Even if, according to Gabriel, the alchemist had sort of frozen up after Scar had splattered her head, she had been using him as bait, and he deserved to get something, even if it wouldn't make up for her failing. But before she could speak, General Gran and his entourage walked in.
She wanted to snap something about knocking first, but kept her mouth closed. A lot was coming into play now, and she could deal with him later. He glared at her, and then asked the doctors about her condition. He seemed very upset when they said they didn't want her to leave the infirmary for at least 24 hours.
Since he couldn't drag her off for interrogation, he started in then and there. She made sure all of her answers were very unhelpful. The questions went on for half an hour, and then an aide stepped in as Gran's twitching eyelid and the veins bulging in his forehead told everyone in the room that the volatile alchemist was a few breaths away from smashing something.
"And you cannot account for your whereabouts at all during the past two weeks?" the aide asked.
"Sorry. I'm drawing a blank," Summer said.
"Do you recall what your assailant looked like?"
"Hmmmmmmmm, not really. I think he had a scar on his face, like a big X across his eyes."
"Anything else?"
"Uhhhh. I think he was wearing…a coat?"
"Well that'll break the case," someone at the back of the room muttered.
They went over the night of her attack again and again, but they couldn't wring anymore out of her, nor did she tell them much about her missing week. They demanded to know where her apartment was, as after she'd vanished they realized that information was missing from her file. She gave them the address of a hotel that would swear you'd lived there all your life if you paid them enough. Marta had handled that part of the situation that morning, moving some clothes and things to a room there, and in the guise of the Scrap Demon paying off and threatening the owner, before providing him with the story he'd have to tell later.
Finally even the interrogators got bored with repeating themselves, and the questions started to taper out. Before they called it a day, though, General Gran ordered everyone else, including the doctors, out of the room. They left hesitantly. Gran came to the side of her bed and loomed.
"I don't know what you think you've accomplished, but you won't escape again," Gran said.
She could feel the Slayer's instincts rising up. He'd kidnapped her from the hospital, and tried to take her to lab 5. Even then she'd been strong enough to escape. Now it would be so easy to snap Gran's neck. But that would create more problems than it would solve. They needed the military on their side if they were going to control a vampire takeover as big as Ed was describing.
"Recognized me, hu?" Summer said. "Took you long enough. But that's a little beside the point. You think I came in here just to run away again?"
Her eyes turned purple. "I think maybe I'll take over."
Gran didn't seem to think much of her statement, and was bringing up his fist when the door burst open again.
"Private Summers! You're alive!" Armstrong bellowed.
Even Gran was a bit stunned by the volume of the massive Major's entrance, and was forced to drop his threatening stance and move aside rather than be bowled over by the Strong-arm Alchemist, who was a bit larger than he, and appeared to be planning a hug.
Summer suppressed the urge to dive out the window. Fortunately a doctor, who had grabbed onto Armstrong's coat and was being dragged along behind, intervened before the Major could deliver the hug that was so clearly on his mind. The doctor then said something along the lines of 'be careful, she could drop dead at any second' which sent the giant major into further hysterics.
Gran scowled, growled something about self-control and decorum before striding out. Summer wasn't sad to see him go, but after a few minutes of Armstrong's speeches of relief at her being found, she was sort of wishing she'd ended up in mortal battle with the Iron-blood Alchemist instead.
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As plans went, this one wasn't great. Ed was supposed to sneak in and give his reports to the Fuhrer, convince him of the existence of vampires, and also assemble a large number of troops to deal with said vampires throughout the Southern region. Plus he had to get them to bring Summer along in some official capacity. He didn't see why she wanted to keep herself on the military's leash. Ed thought it would work out better if she just climbed on top of the train and followed wherever they were going, but she hadn't really listened to him. He supposed he could say the alchemist killer might come after her again.
Summer was leaving the chimera in charge of hunting for "Scar" as they were now calling the killer. Ed supposed the lab escapees could handle the job; they hadn't fought badly at the train station, according to Al, even if the killer did manage to escape.
Ed paused as he reached a dead end. He supposed he was out of under the main entrance hall by now. That meant it was time to go up. He transmuted a pillar from the floor and stepped up on top of it, and then clapped his hands and touched them to the ceiling. The reaction ate through to the floor above, and fortunately nobody fell through on top of him. He climbed through and looked around. He was in an empty office.
He hurried over to the door, and walked quickly through an empty hall.
He wondered again at Summer's final warning before he headed out that morning.
"The Fuhrer isn't human," she'd said. "He's like Envy and Lust. I don't know what he wants, but it probably isn't good."
"So what do you want? If you're one of them, shouldn't you know?" Ed had asked snidely.
She'd looked a little shocked, but that had been replaced by a glare.
"What I want is to tear screaming things into little pieces until all the noise in my head goes away. You better find me some vampires, short stuff, or I'll settle for closer targets."
He wondered if she meant him or the homunculi. He would've thought they were just as big a threat since they were, according to her, impossible to kill; but then again, homunculi were created by some unknown and probably complicated alchemy. Vampires just had to bite someone.
And kill them, Ed thought, rubbing at the scab on his neck.
Ed glared as he came to another dead end. The building was designed to keep unauthorized people out of the royal wing of the Central offices, but even a semi-competent alchemist could transmute his way through a few walls. Ed pressed his ear to the wall he intended to demolish, and winced as he leaned away with paint chips stuck to his face. He hadn't heard anyone talking on the other side, at least. He transmuted and hopped through, again not running into any guards. Maybe Summer's miraculous return was a better lure than he'd thought.
He passed a patrol of guards, but they didn't challenge him. A few gawked at his bruised face, though. He guessed that meant word of his commitment hadn't gotten around. It was just as well they didn't ask him for I.D. His State Alchemist's watch had been taken off him sometime between being drugged and pitched in the loony bin. That jack-ass Archer had probably opened it, too. He was going to beat that little toad into pulp the next time he saw him.
Ed thought he'd have some trouble getting into King Bradley's office, but for once he seemed to be having good luck. The Fuhrer and his security escort marched across the corridor ahead of him.
"Fuhrer President, Sir!" Ed called.
Fuhrer Bradley waved and his guards stopped. Ed bowed and then held up the reports he'd retyped.
"Ah, my dear Fullmetal Alchemist, I was under the impression you were in the hospital for…nerves, was it?"
"No sir," Ed said, frowning. "I had a concussion."
"I suppose that would explain the strange things General Gran and Colonel Archer reported you were saying, something about vampires?"
"Sir, they're real!" Ed said, still holding up the reports. "They've taken over a lot of Southern and I don't know how much of Eastern. I can't get through to Colonel Mustang, and-"
"When was your last psychological evaluation?" the Fuhrer asked.
"I had one right before I broke out of the mental hospital, sir," Ed said.
"Major Kelly, why don't you escort Fullmetal-"
"Sir, I'm not crazy. I don't know what you've been hearing out of Southern, but my brother and I just fought our way back up here, and there wasn't a town along the way that didn't have at least a few of them. They might be in the city already. You have to spread the warning! When's the last time anyone heard anything from the border stations that wasn't a rubber stamped business-as-usual report?"
"What happened to your face, Fullmetal?"
"I got kicked, sir. It doesn't matter. You have to listen. They're taking over-"
"You know there are penalties for going outside your chain of command," the Fuhrer said.
"Just read it, Sir," Ed said, almost begging. "'Cause whatever my penalty is, its nothing compared to what'll happen to all of us if they get to Central."
The Fuhrer stared at him for a long moment, his one eye empty of any human expression. He reached out and took the folder of reports from Ed's hand.
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Summer watched the blank walls as Armstrong continued to gush relief, describing to her the various states of bliss he was certain everyone would feel when they got the news.
She wondered if the people in…Sunnydale would've been this happy to get her back. She thought they probably would've been. But perhaps it would just be an everyday thing. People got out of their graves all the time on the hellmouth.
Maybe they would be nervous and snappy like Ed was, though she couldn't really blame him. They hadn't been the best of friends before she forgot he was human and tried to shut him up permanently in a fit of arrogance.
Their faces were much clearer now: her mother, Giles, Dawn, Xander, Willow and Angel. She could remember whole conversations now, days of fighting as well as days spent idle at the mall or in front of the T.V. She remembered the fighting and carnage and losses and laughter. She remembered the end now, too.
Or at least she thought she did. The tower, and Dawn, crying because she knew she had to die to save the rest of them, but she was just a dumb kid and couldn't help admitting not wanting to.
As this bubbled up inside Summer's mind it made her chest ache, but it didn't seem like her own pain. It was like watching a movie in sepia tones. The dramatics got to her, but it wasn't really her diving into that light in her sister's place. It was just a story with a sad ending.
She wondered how she'd ended up here, now that she was sure here and there were not the same place. She supposed she could've tumbled out into another dimension; after all, Glory's ceremony punched holes into a few dozen other worlds before it was…stopped.
But that didn't explain why she was alive. Maybe the reaction only stopped her heart for a minute or two, like the time she died fighting the Master. That didn't explain the alchemic tattoo or the obvious increase in speed, strength, and recovery, though. That was probably a mystery only Ed or one of the homunculi could solve.
Summer sighed. Maybe she could get Hughes to ask for her. It wasn't like he didn't have more than enough problems of his own, with the homunculi harrying his family. And Summer knew she was the one who'd brought all that down on him.
Apparently Armstrong thought the sighing had something to do with him, as he stopped speaking for a moment to nod sadly.
"It is truly a tragedy. He struck just yesterday," Armstrong said. "And I found myself the target. I may not have seen him in time, despite my special training in situational awareness, a skill passed down through the Armstrong family for generations-"
"The point, Major?" Summer asked.
"Ah, yes, a friend of yours, Elem, I believe, attempted to stop the killer. Unfortunately he was not well trained in combat and lost his leg, but he gave me enough warning to turn the tables on that rogue. It was a most blood-boiling battle-"
Summer was a bit surprised to hear the Ishbalan had ended up back in the fight. All the chimera were sure he'd gone back to the camps after they made it clear they were going to be messing with alchemy.
"-but the killer got away," Summer concluded for him.
Armstrong slumped as she skipped over all the good parts.
"What about Elem?" she asked.
"His right leg had to be amputated. Too much tissue had been destroyed by that villain's alchemy, and he'd have bled to death otherwise. But fear not! He was stabilized at the military hospital and has been given into my custody. Even now he is convalescing under the care of my most talented younger sister!"
"You have a sister?" Summer asked.
"3 sisters in fact, though only one lives in Central," Armstrong declared. "You should come and meet her. I believe you would get along splendidly! In fact, once this villainous murderer has been apprehended, I, if I may be so bold, would be honored if you-"
"WHAT THE F!?K DO YOU MEAN WE'RE ALL GOING TO EASTERN?" Ed's wondrously grating voice demanded. "WE HAVE TO GO TO SOUTHERN! THEY'RE IN SOUTHERN!"
"Ed, for the love of God, quiet down!" Hughes said as he dragged Ed into the infirmary.
"Ah!" Ed said, jumping in surprise as Armstrong whirled towards him.
"Such language is not appropriate in front of a lady!" Armstrong announced.
"What language?" Ed demanded with a scowl.
"I think he means F!?K," Summer said cheerfully. "So how goes it, short stuff?"
"Is everybody here on the level?" Ed asked.
Summer nodded. Hughes nodded. Armstrong looked confused.
"I got my report to the Fuhrer, but he didn't believe me except he said he knew I wasn't lying, so I don't know what that means. Anyway, the idiots are planning to ship the entire State Alchemist research project out to Eastern Command until they can guarantee security in Central. They said they'd send an "investigatory team" down to Southern to check my story. They might as well send them in a lunchbox instead of a box car. They wouldn't even begin to listen about the stakes."
"Stakes?" Armstrong asked.
"For killing vampires," Summer said.
"There's no such thing as vampires," Armstrong said.
"Unfortunately," Ed said, "You won't believe that for long."
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"This is taking forever!" Winry complained.
Al just nodded and shifted the suitcase by his feet. He was supposed to escort Winry back to Resembool, and then go meet Ed and hopefully the rest of the military down in Southern, but somebody had put a hold on all outbound trains for the day.
They'd been on their way back to Shezka's when Winry spotted the tail. Al didn't know if it was just a military spy or that shapeshifter, but they couldn't risk leading them back to their base. They'd gone to a café across from the Central offices instead, hoping to catch up to Ed before he theoretically shipped out.
Al looked down at his cup of tea and plate of cookies. He really hated it when food went to waste, but he hated sitting in restaurants and not buying anything.
He saw a teenage girl and younger boy at a table to the right of him. The boy had sunglasses on, but Al could tell he was being stared at. Al handed the cookies he could not eat over to him. The boy grinned, showing off sharp teeth, and then started wolfing them down.
"Thanks, Mister," said the girl the boy was sitting with. "But he really doesn't need the sugar."
The boy opened his mouth to show the girl the chewed cookies.
"You're going to get fat, you brat," she warned.
"Fat brat! Fat brat!" he chanted, stuffing in more cookies. "Dawn is a fat brat!" he concluded.
The girl buried her face in her hands. "For the sake of your sanity, never baby-sit," she warned Al.
He nodded. The afternoon dragged on and he and Winry ordered another pot of tea and plate of cookies. Winry had to drink all the tea, so she was running back and forth to the bathroom. Still, they'd only seen one group of soldiers leave Central, and that was just a regular patrol-sized group, not a going-to-save-the-nation-from-the-armies-of-the-undead-sized group.
"We should just go in and look for him," Winry said. "What would they arrest us for?"
"How about conspiracy against the State?" a voice called out suddenly.
They turned to see a large number of military police swarming out through the café's kitchen. The man who'd spoken was wearing a colonel's uniform and a sneer.
"Conspiracy to do what?" Winry demanded shrilly.
"I haven't decided yet," the colonel said. "I'm sure the charges will stick, regardless."
"You must be Archer," Al said, standing and knocking over his chair.
"Are you going to make a scene, Elric?" Archer asked. "There are a lot of people in here who could get hurt."
"Hmf!" Al said, crossing his arms. "It doesn't matter, anyway. My brother has already gone to talk to the Fuhrer. You probably won't even have a job by the end of the day."
"What's he going to say?" Archer asked. "More raving about 'vampires' in Southern? He'll be back in the nut house by the end of the day."
They allowed themselves to be marched out of the café and across the street, though Al was slow about it, and drew as much attention as possible. Archer was obviously annoyed by this, but when three hundred pounds of armor drags its feet, there isn't much one skinny Colonel can do about it. Al figured he'd bought them enough time when a familiar voice called out.
"Oh good! You found them!" Hughes shouted cheerfully as he hobbled down the steps, 2nd Lt. Ross trailing behind him.
Al felt a surge of hope.
"The Fuhrer wants to check something with you before we head for the train station."
Al wondered if his brother managed to get a message to Hughes about them getting Winry home.
"And Winry! When did you get into town? You haven't seen the latest pictures of Elicia yet!"
"Lt. Colonel Hughes," Archer growled. "These two are in my custody."
"Well, I'd hate to pull rank," Hughes said with strained cheer, "but orders from the Fuhrer are just a teensy bit more important than orders from a Colonel."
Archer's jaw clenched, but he waved the MP's toward the royal offices, and Al and Winry went along with them.
"You'll regret this," Archer growled as he and Hughes turned to follow the group.
"Doubt it," Hughes said.
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The Town of Delphia, Southern Area…
The town looked abandoned. Doors hung open, some slamming and bouncing in the wind. There were broken windows, smeared with blood, long faded to a brownish rust color. He thought the color went nicely with the orange glow of sunset.
Envy dropped his disguise; the tall man in a Major's uniform melting away into a teenager in a tank top and shorts. His bare feet kicked up dust as he strolled up the block to inspect an overturned car. There was a dead body in it, still belted I, on the passenger side. Insects had found the dead man, at least a few days before, but Envy could still see where his throat had been torn open, by human-sized teeth.
A whine from up the street drew his attention. Gluttony was snuffling around the abandoned general store, circling like a dog that couldn't decide where to lie down.
"What?" Envy called.
"All gone!" Gluttony said. "All the good things to eat are gone."
"Where have they gone?" Envy asked. "There aren't enough corpses around."
"Yes there are," Gluttony said. "All corpses, all dead already. Who wants to eat that? Oh, I do, but not as much. Too squishy, not enough crunch-"
"Shut up! Envy shouted. "Where are they?"
"Under," Gluttony said.
"Buried?" Envy asked. It didn't look disturbed, but hiding bodies with alchemy was no big deal.
"Uh-uh," Gluttony said, shaking his head.
"Then where?" Envy growled in frustration.
"Under the houses."
Envy frowned. He'd searched a few buildings at random, but the dead guy in the car was the first one he'd found. He'd have been able to smell bodies in crawlspaces even without Gluttony's senses.
"Where?" Envy asked.
"Everywhere," Gluttony said.
Envy ground his teeth.
"That building?" he asked, pointing. "Are there corpses under that building?"
"Uh-hu."
"Show me," he ordered.
Gluttony lumbered to the house, shouldering through the front door as if it were made out of paper. The corpulent homunculus circled the living room once and then punched down through the floor. He pried away a couple of planks.
"There," he said pointing.
Envy leaned over and looked in. There were indeed bodies under the floor. The sun was fading, so he flicked on the lights, a bit surprised that the power was still on. The corpses were unharmed as far as he could see, though their clothes were pretty dirty at the knees and elbows, as if they had crawled under the house before expiring.
"Maybe they're still crunchy," Gluttony said, grabbing one, a man in farmer's coveralls, and pulling him up through the hole.
The corpse's eyes popped open.
Envy was a bit startled, as he was sure nobody in that hole had been breathing, but suddenly the dead farmer got even livelier; kicking and cursing and demanding to be put down. More of the corpses were moving now, too. Envy could see them rolling over and getting up, as if from sleep.
Envy held up a hand, stopping Gluttony before he could eat…whatever it was he had found.
"What the hell are you?" Envy asked the farmer.
The undead man glared at him. "We are legion! The inheritors of the Earth!"
As he spoke, the farmer's eyes turned yellow and his face contorted. Fangs sprouted from his mouth. He bit Gluttony's hand.
"That hurt a little," Gluttony complained, before chomping down, biting off the dead man's head.
Gluttony grinned for a moment with the collar of the farmer's shirt still stick out between his teeth. Then the farmer's body exploded in a cloud of ash. Gluttony whined and coughed, and Envy supposed the bits the homunculus had in his mouth had vaporized as well.
"Well, that's weird," Envy said.
He grabbed another of the moving corpses, a woman who was crawling out of the floor. Her face had already warped. She struggled, punching him a lot harder than a human that size should've been able to. He almost dropped her in surprise. Almost. Instead, he pulled her arm out of the socket. She hissed like a cat and tried to bite him, but he caught her by the throat.
"What are you?" he asked.
"Our master will avenge us!" she hissed.
He snapped her neck and was about to toss her aside, when he realized that she wasn't any…deader. Her arms and legs weren't moving, but she was still trying to bite him. He pulled her head all the way off and she turned to dust.
"I guess the Fullmetal pipsqueak was telling the truth," Envy said. "They are vampires."
He looked out the nearest window, and saw more of the creatures crawling out of under every building in view.
Gluttony let out a horrified whine.
"Vampires taste bad!"
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Author's note: Don't forget to review!