Legends (Part 4 - Big John)

[Wellesley, a small city in West region]

The sun was taking its leave from the far eastern city of Ishval to the western city of Wellesley. A short man, technically a dwarf, was standing on the edge of the cliff present at the outskirt of the city, which was filled with greenery. He was wearing a brown leather pant and a pair of leather boots, with a hat on the top of his head, covering the short black hairs. He looked kind of intimidating, not because of his height, but because of his dense black mustache and beard. He was getting a view of the city from the cliff when he heard some footsteps approaching him, and with the footsteps, there was some dragging noise. He turned around and saw a woman was coming while dragging an unconscious military man by grabbing the back of his collar. Her untied brown shoulder length hairs were floating because of the mild wind, and her eyes were matching the green vegetation in the surrounding.

Her name was Major Cecilia Ingolfson aka "The Splinter Alchemist". She was the only state alchemist who didn't have to go to Ishval during the civil war. She was rarely involved in any major activities because of which she was still in the rank of Major even though she was a year older than Roy.

She leaned the military personnel on a tree's trunk and stood up. She looked at the dwarf and asked, "What are you going to do with him?"

"I need to talk with him," the dwarf replied with a grin.

"I am going then," Cecilia said with a tired voice.

"Don't you have any responsibility toward your military friends? What if I kill him?" The dwarf asked with a creepy smile.

"Do whatever you want. I haven't eaten from the morning, I am going to get some food," Cecilia replied and turned around. Then she left the place, leaving the military man alone with the dwarf.

Sometime later, the military personnel gained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he started looking here and there. He was panicked on finding himself in a forest, tied against a tree trunk, but he couldn't see the cliff where he was initially left by Cecilia. Suddenly he heard a deep voice, "Finally, you are awake Lieutenant Donovan."

He looked in front of him and saw a blurred image of a big man, standing at a distance. He closed his eyes and opened them after a small moment, and saw the big man standing a bit closer to him. The man was more than 7 feet tall and had a muscular build up. He was wearing the same attire as the dwarf and had the same kind of beard like the dwarf.

"Who are you? And how do you know me?" Donovan stuttered.

"You can call me Big John, and how do I know you, doesn't matter. The only thing which matters right now is your wife and daughter," John replied and moved aside to let Donovan see his wife and daughter being held by two men with rifles. Donovan's wife and daughter were on their knees, their hands were tied behind their back, and their mouth was covered with a piece of cloth so that they couldn't speak. They were sweating and terrified while the two men were standing beside them pointing their rifles at them.

Donovan was terrified of finding his family at the middle of the forest. Meanwhile, John continued, "Doesn't it feel good to see your family after so many days?" He grinned.

Donovan was sweating out of fear. He even started sobbing, when he saw his family crying in front of him, with guns pointed at them. "What do you want from me?" Donovan sobbed.

"First of all stop whining," John said, and as soon as he said that, the two men who were pointing rifles on Donovan's family moved away. Watching that, Donovan took and deep breathe and calmed down.

After Donovan was calmed, John asked, "Are you leading the team which is reconstructing Ishval city?"

"Yes," replied Donovan.

"Can you tell me why the military is restoring the first Ishval city? Wasn't it a forbidden place according to the Ishvalans?" John asked.

"The Ishvalans approached on their own to the Amestris military to help them restore the old city. Just like they have now accepted alchemy, the legend behind the destruction of the first Ishval is now just a story to them. They particularly asked us to help them restore the temple of God Ishvala," Donovan answered.

"STORIES?" John shouted out of surprise by widening his eyes, and then he started laughing out loud.

John walked closer to Donovan while laughing, and he untied Donovan.

"Go, meet your family," John said after untying Donovan.

As soon as John permitted Donovan to meet his family, Donovan quickly stood up and ran toward his family. John was watching Donovan running toward his family, and both of them had a grin on their face. Donovan's grin was clearly out of happiness of finally meeting his family, but John's grin was evil. When Donovan was just a few inches away from embracing his family, he realized all the things he was watching a few moments ago including his family was just an illusion. The place was the same place where Cecilia left Donovan, and the place where Donovan saw his family, was actually beyond the cliff's edge. When Donovan fell from the cliff, John started laughing out loud.

"Sorry, Lieutenant…I told her…to stop…that I might kill you…but she didn't…well…it was fun to… watch you fall," John said while laughing.

After some moment, Big John stopped laughing and went to the edge of the cliff and looked down. He could clearly see Donovan, 30 feet down the edge of the cliff, lying on a rock, bleeding heavily from his head, and he was breathing like a fish out of water taking its last breath. Donovan could also see Big John looking down at him. Now that John's illusion was not there, Donovan could see what Big John really looked like, which was a dwarf.

"Sorry I can't save you right now, my feet are hurting after standing for such a long time. You should thank me for letting you see your family one last time. Bye," John grinned and left the place, leaving Donovan behind to die on that rock.