Babylon Pairings: Eventual Roy/Ed. Summary: AU. Two years after retrieving his brother's body from the Gate of Truth Edward Elric is still paying the price. Will his debt ever be repaid, or will it finally cost him everything? Rating: M Overall - Mostly for language and occasional dark themes. Status: Work In Progress Length: Epic Warnings: Spoilers for the anime. Babylon: Lit: 1 )The city of Babylon 2) A place of captivity or exile 3) Derived from the Greek "Bab-Ilani: The Gate of the Gods. Babylon Chapter Twenty-Eight: Wraiths A young Babylonian woman with a baby in her arms stood in front of Roy. Dark brown eyes stared at the priest, but her lips were pinched and her gaze kept darting to the boy at his mercy. She was oblivious to the presence of the man in blue uniform nearby. Tentatively, trying to pretend his hand was not shaking, Roy reached out and brushed the sharp edge of her shoulder. His fingers drifted straight through, sensing heat and life, but nothing as solid as flesh or bone. 'What -?' His voice sounded weak and strained as he recoiled, and his whirling thoughts kept returning to settle on one word: ghosts. It was a ridiculous notion, like something out of a childhood horror story ? as if there were such a thing as phantoms that haunted the place of their deaths ? but what other explanation was there? Riza nudged a tall, burly man with the muzzle of her gun, frowning when the weapon met no resistance. She carefully holstered her revolver and reached out to touch the man's temple. Like Roy, she made contact with nothing but vapour, and her brown eyes widened in alarm. Al hunkered down beside a little boy of maybe six years old. He looked closely, thoughtfully, but did not reach out to see if the child was real. Instead he watched the boy chase his sister around and around his mother's skirts, only to give a soft cry of horror as he tripped and fell right through Al's outstretched hands to sprawl on the floor. There were tears from the boy, as real as anything Roy had ever heard. His mother's soft reassurances and gentle kisses and sympathy were a universal constant of loving parents everywhere, but everything, from the city in all its dusk-filled glory to the moon overhead, was a lie. The only thing that linked this place to the ruins in which they had been standing was the smooth outline of the array, curving unnoticed beneath the people's feet. Ed's left hand brushed against Roy's palm, fingers twining in his grip, warm and real as he gave a quick squeeze of reassurance before letting go. 'It's a collective memory,' he said, his voice so logical and matter-of-fact that it was hard to remain locked in befuddled half-fear. 'The alchemy that created the gate imprinted what happened within the array. When we walked into the square, we triggered it. The design was originally used to draw in the energy needed to put the gate together.' He grimaced. 'It took it straight from the people who used to live here.' 'What will it do to us?' Al asked, standing up and peering through the crowd's feet as he tried to get a better look at the circle in which they stood. 'The same thing?' An uncomfortable expression crossed Ed's face as he let out a heavy sigh. 'I don't think so. It's different now than it was back then. Maybe some of the lines have worn away and affected the way it works, or perhaps only the priest could control when it drained the energy away. We're probably safe.' 'Forgive me, Edward,' Hawkeye said firmly, 'but I would have liked a more definite answer to that question. I don't think it's wise for us to stay here and find out what happens.' She was already striding through the crowd towards the design's edge, automatically squeezing between the figures even though she could have walked straight through them if she wished. Her course took her to the circumference close to the altar, not far from where the priest stood. As soon as she tried to cross the outer edge of the array, the air pulsed, booming like a wave hitting the side of the boat. Hawkeye was forced back as the lines flashed a warning. The Babylonians remained oblivious as Roy swore softly, hearing the unspoken message with ease. They were trapped in this time and this place until the alchemy deigned to release them. He knew that, if they persisted in their attempts to escape, the next attack would not be so harmless, and he had no wish to lose anyone to Babylon's past. 'I don't think it will hurt us,' Ed said quietly. 'Just wait it out.' He glanced up at the sky as if trying to judge the passage of time. 'It won't be long.' 'My children!' The priest's cry rang out across the square as if he had been waiting for Ed's cue, and the babbling rush of whispers calmed to silence as the crowd stopped to listen. There was a hungry desperation in the air, but it was coming from the people, not the alchemy. They hung on the man's every word as is he was their saviour and, as he began to speak, Roy realised that the priest had styled himself as such. 'I, Thaqir, have given you so much. I gave our great city life, bringing precious water to our desert realm. Now, in our time of need, I vowed to find a solution.' He spread his arms wide and lifted his face to the sky, drawing in a deep breath of the balmy air like a man revelling in his moment. 'For months terrors have torn apart our homes. Unnatural fires have burned the sand to glass, and the winds have thrown themselves against our walls. The very ground has sought to topple our towers! Now, at last, I have found the answer, and I have appealed to our great ruler, King Kaleo, for his aid.' 'Lying fucker,' Ed hissed at Roy's side. 'Kaleo and Carmine tried to escape. They were never consulted about anything. They were given orders.' 'They didn't think his plan would work?' Gold eyes flashed in the darkness, and Roy could feel the taut, angry tension pouring off of Ed. 'They didn't want to give a little boy's life for it. Can't exactly blame them. This whole thing was caused by Thaqir using alchemy. Why should it be Kaleo's life to pay for the cure?' Roy focussed on the priest again, trying to view what was happening as an unbiased spectator, but he could not help the sickly, creeping sense of disgust. There was too much glory and very little honesty. Thaqir was feeding the people of Babylon a desperate hope, but even Roy could see that they were reluctant to take it. Around him, men and women kept glancing at their young king and his bound mother, hemmed in by the grim prospect of the guards. They knew something was amiss, and he could feel their unease like a breath of cold air on the back of his neck. 'For centuries the royal family have protected us and served us with their lives. Now the king, in all his courage and wisdom, has agreed to sacrifice himself for the sake of his city. With his blood the powers that wrack our world will be appeased! With his blood we shall enter a new era of peace and prosperity!' 'Bullshit,' Ed spat. 'He's just telling them what they want to hear. He knows what's going to happen. The only one who's going to walk out of here alive is him.' A quick, malicious smile crossed Ed's lips, and he nodded towards Carmine. 'At least, that's what he thinks.' The crowd were too distracted and Thaqir too lost in his rapture to notice one of the guards unlock the woman's chains and murmur something in her ear. Was that a brush of a kiss to her temple? It was impossible to tell from this distance, and Roy doubted that she had even noticed. Her eyes were focussed sharp and hard on the priest, and as he lifted the sharp splinter of a knife she lunged for him, her rage finding voice in a chilling scream of fury. Like a spark thrown into a powder keg, the unrest of the crowd was given life. Women cried out as the men shouted, all of them giving voice to their doubts as Thaqir lunged, bringing the metal down across Kaleo's throat in one clean, deep slice. He followed the cut through, bending towards the ground and brushing both sets of fingers against the stone of the platform, smearing blood over something that no one could see. Roy felt it: a deep, hard thud like cannon fire as the alchemy began to build. Everyone else was oblivious, too wrapped up in the struggle in front of them to notice what was happening beneath their sandaled feet. Thaqir gave a cry of pain as Carmine grappled for the knife, cleaving the brutally sharp blade into his hand and slicing off a couple of fingers. It was too late, though. Kaleo lay dead on the altar, his blood giving life to an array that spanned the massive square, entrapping everyone in its embrace. The light flowed outward like liquid silver, picking out the design inch by inch as the alchemy rushed towards its climax. Silence knifed through the air, punctuated by one massive indrawn breath. Everyone dropped as if their legs had been cut out from under them, falling to the stone with a sickening thud as their lives were snuffed out. There had been no time to reach for loved ones and no time to say a final goodbye. Every person in Babylon had been robbed of what was most precious to them. Life was gone. Al's choked down sob of horror at the children who now lay dead at his feet made Ed break away from Roy's side, and he heard the older Elric mutter some form of comfort. Even Riza had her hand pressed over her mouth as if she were trapping her emotions behind her lips, swallowing them back as her eyes burned with fury and hurt. She had seen her fair share of battle, but Roy knew what she was thinking. These people weren't soldiers. They had not signed up to anything. They had not stepped out of their front doors tonight knowing that they were risking their lives. Looking acros...
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