Chapter 8: The Ishbal Reconstruction

The Iron Sole Alchemist (Chapter 8) The Ishbal Reconstruction

by Howlin

(Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to this universe, places, or characters, and only claim the protagonist, Loki, Sloth, The Gunslinger Alchemist, The Swarm Alchemist, and his subordinates as my own creations. This is fan fiction, and I don't profit from it. Please don't sue me.)

. . .

"Are the rumors true?" asked Melvin as soon as I got back to my work detail.

"How about a 'Hello' first," scolded Frank, who then smiled at me and handed me a shove.

Melvin ignored him. "People are saying you went to the ruins of Xerxes and got driven off by what you found there. Is it true?"

"Be reasonable, Melvin," said Ken. "Of he was allowed to tell us what it was that messed up the limbs of two of the State's living weapons less than a day's walk from where we have to sleep, don't you think he would have done so before he left?"

"Ken's right," I said. "Colonel Swarm was very clear about everything that happened out there being classified. But I don't think it would hurt to tell you one thing."

"What's that?" asked Frank.

"The Gunslinger Alchemist and I were not driven off. We got hurt in the fighting, but we won that one."

. . .

The routine drudgery of manual labor was disrupted the next day by the sound of an explosion. We rushed toward the source and found the supply train was on fire, with a crowd of young Ishbalan men pelting the wreckage with alcohol bottles and random debris.

"What happened here?" I asked while the others caught their breath from the run.

"The people of Ishbal will no longer tolerate our continued military buildup in our lands," yelled one of the men egging on the crowd.

"There are official channels for voicing grievances," said the Swarm Alchemist, his tone never shifting from his standard.

"Official channels?" demanded one of the crowd incredulously. "They still aren't taking us seriously."

The crowd moved to surround us and several members produced knives and clubs.

"You are hereby ordered to dissipate. Any refusing will be held for questioning related to the destruction of military property."

One of the men responded by taking a swing at the Colonel. Or trying to. As he wound up, the Swarm Alchemist turned his gaze in the man's direction. Spiders and scorpions burst from the ground at his feet and crawled up his pant leg, biting and stinging the whole way. The man dropped to the ground in a panic, rolling and batting at his body, screaming the whole time. The bugs scurried away from his blows, then leapt on his hands, conducting their assault with perfectly coordinated military precision, and suffering virtually no casualties.

The man continued to writhe and scream as the Swarm Alchemist stared down the crowd. No one else dared step forward. Slowly, the assembled members of the mob backed away and left.

"I can see where your name came from," I said, looking at the writhing man and wincing. As I watched, the various creatures ceased their assault and scurried off.

"Take the prisoner to a holding area," said the Swarm Alchemist to the others. Then to me, "Look over the wreckage. Determine what can be salvaged without alchemy. Keep that salvage separate from the rest, then transmute the remainder and have it sent to the base. The train itself can be sent back to East City."

"Yes, Sir," we replied together and got to work.

. . .

After we got back to the base that night, I said to my friends, "They weren't wrong about the buildup. The base has been growing ten times as fast as the actual town, and it looks like the bigwigs are trying to slow that down even further."

"I'm just glad the Colonel managed to get the crowd to back down," replied Frank.

"They backed down this time," said Ken, "but it also reminded them there are State Alchemists here. The Colonel saved some lives with that display, but he also made our job a lot harder."

"I just don't get why Command wants another Ishbal Massacre," said Melvin.

"What did happen last time?" I asked.

"You know those ruins we've been trying to rebuild?" asked Melvin. "They're what's left after Central Command sent the State Alchemists."

"All that?" I asked, thinking on how little was left.

"It wasn't Liore," said Ken, "but it was still pretty brutal."

. . .

I was called in to the Swarm Alchemist's office the next day.

"Report on the salvage situation, Major."

"Most of the damaged supplies were ones destined for the base anyway," I began. "The explosion originated within a supply of munitions."

"The supplies you salvaged will be the last asistance the Ishbalans receive until further notice. I am placing this base on full lock down."

"Sir," I protested, "just because a few criminals did some damage is no reason to punish everyone."

"The attack on the train was a distraction." The Swarm Alchemist paused to make sure he had my full attention before continuing. "At the same time as we were dealing with the attack, someone infiltrated this base and made off with the object you recovered from the ruin."

"Lee?"

"Interrogation of the prisoner recovered at the disturbance revealed two pieces of pertinent information. One, the mob was not an aware and willing participant in the theft. They were stirred up by a third party. Two, a dark haired child with an oroboros tattoo on her back was present at the initial meetings."

"Sloth. What's she trying to accomplish?"

"Unknown at this time. As the one with the most experience dealing with this individual, and one of only three persons on this base cleared to know about the artifact that was stolen, I am sending you out to investigate. Alone."

. . .

I felt the stares of the Ishbalans on me as I made my way through the tent city, the only blue uniform for miles. Even Loki had been left at base. It was supposed to make the Ishbalans feel safer. It definitely made me feel less safe.

I ran down the list of locations the Swarm Alchemist had provided, but no evidence turned up, and none of the Ishbalans were willing to talk. I was considering going back empty handed when I noticed an old man with a tattoo on his face peeking out of a tent set well away from the others. On a hunch, I approached.

"What's taking so long?" demanded a familiar voice from inside the tent.

"The soul attachment is fragile. If this isn't done carefully, he may not survive the process."

"Take your time," came a third voice. "The distraction worked. The only thing the military has in the area is one confused looking soldier."

"Don't underestimate him. That soldier is the Iron Sole Alchemist."

I took that as my cue and stepped into the tent. Lee's helmet was in the center of a complicated transmutation circle surrounded by metal ingots no doubt stolen from the supply train. Sloth was on the opposite side of the array from me. Two Ishbalans were present. One, the old man with the tattoo, the other a teenager with his hair spiked up.

"Nice to see you remember which one of us won last time we met," I said to Sloth as I entered.

"You have to stop him, Leo," came a voice from the helmet. It was higher pitched than I remembered. "He'll break my blood seal."

"It's okay, Al," said the teenager as he drew a long, curved sword covered in a glowing red alchemic diagram. "I won't let him hurt you."

"Al?" I said in confusion as Leo rushed at me. My confusion gave Leo time to close the distance before I reacted.

Fortunately for me, Leo wasn't much of a swordsman, and I was able to duck under the clumsy swing. Seeing an opening, I punched him as hard as I could in the stomach before running past.

"No time," yelled Sloth. "Activate the array!"

The old man shot the homonculus a look of disgust and pointedly looked to Leo.

"Do it," called Leo as he turned to pursue me.

I had enough distance to try alchemy, so I stomped my foot and raised a stone wall between Leo and myself as I drew my pistol.

The old man activated the transmutation circle, and the metal ingots joined together with Lee's helmet, reconstructing the suit of armor that had previously made up his body.

Unsure which way to point my gun, a red light flared behind me, and Leo cut through the wall I'd made, his alchemic weapon carving through solid stone as though it weren't even there, leaving a trail of red alchemic light in its passing.

"It's over," said Leo. "Drop the gun."

"You're surrounded, outnumbered, and outmatched," added Lee, still affecting what I now realized was an impersonation of Alphonse Elric."

"And your mutt won't be coming to save you this time," added Sloth.

They were right. I couldn't win a straight fight with them, but I had an idea to even the odds a little.

"Leo," I said over my shoulder as I kept my gun aimed in the direction of the homonculus, "these people aren't who they say they are."

"Says the State Alchemist pointing a gun at a little kid. In Ishbal. Again," replied Sloth in a mocking one.

"Yeah, you sound so threatened," I sneered at her.

"Put the gun down," repeated Leo.

"She told you that was Alphonse Elric, right?"

"I am Alphonse," said Lee.

"Alphonse Elric is back in a human body these days," I told Lee. "You're just another soul bound in the same kind of armor."

"That's easy to check," said Lee, practically rolling his eyes. "Al, remember the guy with the scar on his face?"

"Of course," said Lee, and Sloth grinned smugly.

"Which eye was fake?"

"Left," said Lee with conviction.

I heard a sharp intake of breath from Leo behind me, and Sloth's smile became brittle.

"You lied to me. Both of you. Why?" Leo shot at Lee and Sloth.

Sloth shrugged. "Because it made you easier to manipulate. I'd already managed to push you to bend your objections to using alchemy using your hatred and fear of the military. A trusted friend could push you even farther, maybe even as far as using the Grand Arcanum to make a Philosopher's Stone."

"I guess that means the rouse is over," said Lee in his own voice. "In that case, it's time for some payback."

With that, Lee clapped his hands and pressed them to the ground. A stone column erupted directly in front of me and struck my midsection, throwing me backward.

Leo severed the column with his sword and turned to charge at Lee.

The old man started scratching a transmutation circle in the dirt, but Sloth rushed at him with that inhuman speed, breaking up what he'd already drawn and interposing herself between the old man and the fighters. "Why don't you sit this one out," she said, then punched him hard enough to throw him backward.

Leo was distracted from his charge, and Lee took advantage. Lee brought a metal foot up into Leo's groin and took the sword from the teenager as he doubled over.

I'd barely regained my footing. I'd somehow managed to keep ahold of my sidearm, but the weapon would be useless against the animated suit of armor. Lee raised the sword to cut off Leo's head, and I realized there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was too unsteady to use the arrays on my shoes, and the deconstructive nature of the sword would limit my options even if I could transmute.

Then Lee collapsed mid swing, the sword's red glow going dark as he fell. Lee's helmet didn't fall with the rest of his body, and as the armor fell, Sloth was revealed behind. She gripped the helmet in one hand and pried it off her other hand. She'd phased partly through it and had destroyed the blood seal.

"Idiot," she spat as she tossed the helmet. "Kill the boy and we lose our leverage over the exile."

Sloth was pointedly ignoring my presence. And why not? She could pass through solid matter, so the gun I had trained on her was no threat. The last time we'd met, I barely managed to inconvenience her. But the last time we'd met, I didn't know what I was dealing with.

I activated the transmutation circle I'd inscribed on the grip of my pistol and fired. The bullet impacted in the middle of Sloth's body, spattering a bit of blood behind and drawing a look of shock from the homonculus.

"How?"

"Your powers aren't magical," I declared. "A homonculus is a product of alchemy, so your powers have to follow the rules of alchemy. If you can't determine the composition of an object, you can't pass through it. So all I have to do is transmute each bullet into a random substance as it's fired and your little trick stops protecting you."

"Not bad," she admitted. "What's your answer to this?" Her wound vanished n a flash of blue light, then she scooped up the dropped sword and charged at me.

I fired off three more shots, only one of them actually hitting the hiomonculus. That wound healed just as fast as the first.

Sloth leapt the final three feet, and came at me with an overhead chop. I threw a hand up to ward off her attack, and miraculously caught the hand she held the sword with.

The blade's transmutation circle had been dark while Sloth wielded it. Catching her swing, my hand came in contact with a red gem set in the hilt. At that slight contact, I felt a surge of power rush through me, and I knew what it was.

Before Sloth had a chance to try anything else, I used the red stone's power to deconstruct the homonculus' arm. With the stone boosting my power, I didn't even need to clap. I just willed it and the homonculus was blown across the room minus one limb, with me left holding the sword.

Sloth hit the ground and rolled, pulling herself upright with obvious effort. Leo had recovered by that point and was tending to the old man. The blast drew his gaze.

Sloth regenerated her arm and crouched as if to charge again. I pointed the sword in her direction and she stopped. I swear I saw a smirk on her face before she melted into the ground.

I pried the red stone out of the sword hilt as I went to check on Leo and the old man. Finding them both alright, I dropped the sword at Leo's feet.

"I'd hate to think of the sort of backlash you might get if you overtaxed the stone in a weapon like that," I said. "If you still want to use that against us, you'll have to learn to activate the array on your own. Of course, the only reason it's gotten to this point is that you people won't let us use alchemy to help with the reconstruction. I guess your faith is fine with alchemy as long as you're only using it to kill people instead of using it to improve lives."

A look of shame passed over Leo's face, quickly masked by one of defiance. "This sword doesn't use alchemy," he said, making no move to take it."

"I suppose that isn't a transmutation array. I saw it deconstruct-" and then I stopped. "Alchemy has three parts," I said with dawning comprehension. "Determine the composition. Break it down. Then rebuild it as something else. So it's all good if you stop at step two?"

That was when I noticed an array off to the side of the tent pinned up. There were more details visible, but I was certain this was the array Scar had used to destroy Liore.

"That's the Grand Arcanum Sloth was talking about, isn't it?" The array used to make the Philosopher's Stone. What is something that sophisticated doing in Ishbal?"

The old man smirked. "You're all the same. You see a people with different hair and eyes from you and you can't imagine they have a culture as advanced as your own."

"My own culture," I responded hotly, "has no conception of alchemy at all. When an alchemist came to town, we mistook him for a miracle worker. I'm not confused by that array's presence because I think you people are fundamentally inferior. I'm confused because I didn't expect people with a taboo against something to be studying it enough to get very far."

I studied the array to calm myself. It was even more sophisticated and intricate than I'd initially realized. When I collected myself, I again addressed the old man.

"So how does it work?"

"Much the same way as the method your people use. The only difference is the scale."

"What method?" I asked.

"Human sacrifice. The lives of living humans are used as the material to produce lesser stones like the one you're holding, as well as to produce a full Philosopher Stone."

"You mentioned scale," I said as I stared at the blood red stone in my hand.

"A fallen city. An entire people lost to genocide. Destruction and tragedy on that scale is required to fore a Philosopher Stone."

"And that's Sloth's goal," I said, now comprehending the sale of the threat the homonculus represented. "I have to report in."

. . .

This was no time for half truths. Much as I wanted to shield Leo and the old man from scrutiny after the help I'd received, this was too important. I told the Swarm Alchemist everything I had just learned. The homonculus' plan to provoke the Ishbalans into making a Philosopher Stone, the attempt to gain Leo's trust by passing Lee as Alphonse Elric.

The Colonel listened to my report as dispassionately as always. When I set the red stone I had recovered from Leo's sword on the table, something extraordinary happened. The Swarm Alchemist's expression changed. Behind his all concealing glasses, his eyes widened in recognition. Every muscle in the man's body tensed. Through an act of will, the Colonel resumed his usual posture before speaking.

"We cannot tolerate another incident like Liore. I am classifying the information you have retrieved regarding the manufacture of the Philosopher Stone. The Ishbalans you encountered will be taken into custody."

"That won't solve our problem. Sloth is still out there passing out these stones and alchemy lessons. We have no way of knowing how many Ishbalans know about the Grand Arcanum. Unexplained arrests would only make them more frightened and desperate, which would be playing right into Sloth's hands."

"If you have an alternative, you may present it."

"We finish the reconstruction, and defuse the source of the Ishbalans' fear and mistrust. We make sure none of these people are desperate enough to try to create a stone."

"At our pace before the attack, the reconstruction process was projected to take three years."

"I've got a plan that could cut that down to three months."

. . .

Under my orders, a shipment of raw materials from the base were hauled back to Ishbal and placed in an open area. The crowd that gathered was more curious than angry. Once enough people were gathered, I carefully traced a transmutation circle on the ground and placed a metal ingot in the center.

The Ishbalans' suspicions increased with the obvious alchemic preparations I was making, and the crowd grew restless. Even the soldiers were confused and getting increasingly nervous. My calm, deliberate confidence managed to hold things together long enough to finish my preparations.

I made sure everyone had a good view, and activated my array. Golden light flowed through the circle, and with slow, deliberate precision, the ingot began to flake apart. Layer by layer, the metal was deconstructed as the crowd watched, and soon all that was left was a hinge carved out of the metal using pure destructive alchemy.

The crowd reaction wasn't as positive as I'd hoped.

"Why do you mock our beliefs putting on displays with alchemy?" one yelled.

"How much longer must we tolerate such blasphemy?" called another.

The crowd started to surge forward. The soldiers prepared for the worst, and I was starting to wonder how I'd live with myself if I was responsible for triggering a second Ishbal massacre. Then I heard a familiar voice in the crowd.

"That wasn't alchemy," said Leo in a clear tone that rang out over the crowd. The Ishbalans stopped, hearing one of their own speaking out in our defense. Leo continued, "Ishbala forbids alchemy because it is reshaping what God created, but this alchemist didn't reshape anything."

I smiled at Leo and continued where he left off. "This hinge was always there in the metal. All I did was break down everything that wasn't the hinge."

The crowd was listening to me now, so I went into my prepared speech. "I know this isn't a perfect solution, and I know the military has done much to ear your fear and mistrust. We're trying to find a balance. We will respect your beliefs, but proceeding as we have been wasn't working. I think making tools and parts this way could be a good compromise, but this is your land, and whatever we build here will belong to you, so if you think another solution will work better, we'll do that."

. . .

There was no fanfare. No formal recognition or acceptance of my proposal. No hoisting me up on anyone's shoulders and declaring me the savior of Ishbal. But one by one over the next few weeks, individual Ishbalans approached while I worked asking for parts or tools. By the end of the month, the scale of the projects escalated, and we were using destructive alchemy to quarry stone, dig wells and building foundations, and manufacture parts on an industrial scale.

By doing as much of our alchemy as possible out in the open, we were able to build trust, and by focusing on providing tools and raw materials, the Ishbalans had a greater feeling of ownership over the reconstruction itself, since they were the ones actually building their city now. With the people able to participate the city started growing much faster than the military base, further quieting their fears.

. . .

With the reconstruction going well, I went to speak with my commanding officer.

"Sir, I would like your permission to make a research trip to Central and interview some of the soldiers who served with the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"You have duties here assisting in the reconstruction."

"With respect, three State Alchemists is overkill for the work we're actually doing. Sloth is a major threat, and frankly, I haven't been given enough information to deal with that threat appropriately. I know Edward Elric was mixed up in all this somehow, and those who served with him might have some clue that will help us neutralized Sloth permanently."

"Fullmetal's commanding officer was implicated in a coup attempt against the late Fuhrer Bradley. To avoid an inquiry, he accepted demotion to the rank of private and went into quasi-exile in the Brigs mountains. The rest of his men were found to have been uninvolved in the plot and continue to operate out of Central Command. You may meet with the ones in Central, but you are not to waste time and risk your safety attempting to track down the Flame Alchemist."

. . .

Author's comments:

The Ishbal reconstruction was never going to be an easy thing with all the bad blood. Scar's right arm inspired Leo to build a weapon, and that weapon inspired Iron Sole to build a bridge between Ishbal and the State, whether Central wants that bridge or not.