ADOPTERS Note (AAN)

I adopted this story from Akumu Lee Crimson. Read and reveiw.

He ran. He ran as if the wind wouldn't match his speed right now… He had to get away before they caught him.

Allen jumped from a building to another building somewhere in Munich, Germany. Hoards of Akuma are chasing behind him furiously crying out, "Noah-sama! Noah-sama!" or "Fourteenth! Fourteenth!"

Each time Allen heard the Akuma's cries, the Fourteenth tries to take over him. Each time the Fourteenth did that, Allen grew weaker. This is bad. This is gettingreally bad.

Gradually, Allen began to slow down. Usually, he wouldn't wear down so easily. The Fourteenth, his lack of sleep, and food were the cause.

Only if I was at the Black Order. . . . Allen shook his head and slapped himself mentally. That wouldn't happen. Everyone over there mistrusts him because he was a Noah. He pictured Leverrier in his mind and shuddered. Who knows what the evil man would try and do to him once he gets back, most likely an execution. He doesn't want to see the crying face of Lenalee, nor the anguished face of Komui for having another friend he couldn't help because he was powerless compared to Leverrier.

Why me? He thought as he continued run.Why does it always have to be me of all people?

He walked in the alleyway that looks so much familiar as the ones back in Central. How he wish to be back in Amestris with his own little brother. . . If he was alive that is.

Edward looked up at the sky as a few drops of water splashed onto his face. Stratus clouds. . . Rain. . . He doesn't like rain no matter how much refreshing it can be to nature. After all, it's when Scar tried to kill him and claimed that he was doing it on "God's will". It was when Nina Tucker and her dog Alexander had been killed by him. It was when he first experienced the hell back in Resembool that caused him to lose his limbs and took away Al's body. It wasn't fair. But as Dante and Hohenheim said, nothing's fair in alchemy. Even the Equivalent Exchange which was said to be the truth of the whole world which Edward believed back then. He really was a kid.

Suddenly, he saw a blur jumping from a roof to another roof and hoards of . . .things after him.

Curious, he walked over to a wall of a building and began to climb on a pipe that was tightly attached to it.

As he climbed up he grew more and more curious of those things that were after that blur. When he was close enough to the roof, he saw that those things were not a real being. They looked like machines. . . used for war. He had a sudden surge of sorrow when he recalled the time he was a State Alchemist, a "Dog of the Military". He had to obey every command they told him and every time he did, his life got worse.

Edward thought he was different from the other State Alchemists because he was called "The Hero of the People", but he was no different. It was because of what he'd done to Al that put him in absolute misery. Especially when he was turned into a Philosopher's Stone because he didn't protect his little brother from the bastard, Kimblee, who turned him into a time bomb. If it wasn't for Scar, he would've been dead by now… or he may have been dead when Edward had tried to bring him back from the Gate of Truth.

Edward shook his head and jumped right back into reality. He spaced off too much since he didn't notice he was already on the roof of that building. He noticed that the blur was actually a person and he was shaking his head like Edward did a second ago and . . . . Is that white hair? Is he an old man?

As he closely watched the person, he figured out that he was actually a young boy, around the same age as him. It was hard to tell from the clown outfit the boy was wearing.

Allen looked at the blond person running behind him. He's probably a curious and innocent civilian who knew nothing of the Holy War… if it was a Holy one.

Get away! You'll get hurt! Allen wanted to scream at him, but alas his strength and stamina is too low. Black spots began to appear in his vision, and more came when he continued to run away from the Akuma until he just collapsed and blacked out as soon as the man, no boy, who was now right next to him.

The boy collapsed and passed out when he was just got near him. The boy said something, Edward noted since he moved his mouth, but he didn't hear it . . . Not like it mattered.

Edward looked around and saw that those war machines are speeding up . . . faster than before. He had sneaked past them when they suddenly stopped and began to repeat, "Noah-sama? Noah-sama?" But now it's different. He had to do something before—

"Ka-chak!"

"Oh, shi*t!" Edward swore loudly and ran back to the edge of the building in complicated directions that the machines couldn't hit a scratch on with the white-haired boy on his back. He began to climb down the pipe he used with one hand, which was taking a hell lot of time. He could do it with alchemy. But he didn't want to risk attractions with all the blue lightning flashing madly. Edward was nearly at the ground when one white looking machine with a pentacle marked on its belly that oddly resembled an angel, came right in front of his face and turned its arm into a gun.

How do they do that? He thought. It can't be alchemy! The science here isn't as developed as Amestris excluding the technical stuff! Edward jumped off the pipe and landed on the ground when the machine began to shoot its first shot at him which missed very narrowly.

That was close! Thought Edward as he continued to run towards the darkest alleyway. They would be safer over there.

Then the strange thing happened.

Those machines stopped and began to look around bewildered while saying "Noah-sama?" And those crazy angellike ones, also bewildered from the expression which Edward had to chuckle, stopped.

"Noah-sama? Doko/Where?"

Edward, having no idea of what they were talking about slowly backed off into the shadows when they began to bicker something about someone being a 'Noah' or not. . . Whatever that is.

He ran in the dark alleyway towards his and Hohenheim's place. He hoped that those machines . . . or were they? . . . Didn't follow them.

Edward continued to run into twisted and complicated directions the dark alleyway gave them. Stray white beams of light streaked through the ever complicated directions of the alley. He looked around and nodded in satisfied that the machine lost them.

He was out of the dark alley, the building he and Hohenheim lived was in view.

He opened the door to the building and entered, stumbling a bit with the boy who was pretty heavy. If it wasn't for his automail, his arms might have been worn out minutes ago. He walked up the stairs to the fourth floor, and entered through the door that's labeled 'Zimmer Nr. 21'. He looked around seeing that Hohenheim was out, probably staying in the Thule University to talk with a person named Heinstich. Edward walked into his own bedroom and laid the boy down on his bed.

Edward looked at the boy with curiosity. He never really took a good look at him when he carried the boy from the roof all the over here. The boy had a peculiar scar on his left side of the face. The scar started as an upside down pentacle from the forehead and all the way down to the corners of his chin. There was another slash, this time horizontally across the cheek. Edward noticed that the scar was redder than normal scars would have.

The clown outfit the boy was wearing looked very dirty, he noted. He opened his closet and took out a set of his clothes and began to change the boy. When Edward unbuttoned the boys' shirt, he took a look at any part of the boys' chest just in case he needed treatment for any injuries. He gasped when he saw a lot of scars on the boy. Some of them looked pretty fatal. Instinctively, Edward brought his own hand up to his chest and clenched his shirt remembering the horror when Envy killed him.

He took a look at the deformed left arm with a green cross engraved on it. He must've had a hard life. . . Like mine,Edward thought sadly. Everything goes wrong for us no matter how much we don't want that.

He continued to change the boy's clothes and slipped the clothes onto the boy's. The boy looked weird with all the brown, but it was better than the clown outfit which he decided that he should put it in the laundry basket where the laundry lady can take and wash it.

He draped the blankets over the boy and went into the kitchen to make a quick meal for himself and the boy. He wasn't much of a cooker, but he was at least way better than Hohenheim. Edward smiled at the thought when his father told him that he can't cook and explained all the details when he first tried to.

Black. That was all Allen saw until he caught sight of a boy with short, cropped golden hair and eyes. The bangs were separated from his face with an antenna sticking out between them holding out his hand to Allen. The boy offering his hand looked similar to the boy he saw while the Akuma was pursuing him. He looked around. Everything was suddenly white.

"This is your last chance you know," A voice called out. It sounded like millions of voices saying the same thing simultaneously.

"Take it or lose it," it said. The boy began to fade away slowly. Allen thought about taking his' chance'. What would that 'chance' be?

He remembered the crying face of Lenalee when he left her with the Black Order. He remembered the grateful look on Kanda's face when he helped him and Alma escape to Mater. He remembered Lavi's joking voice when he first met him.

He stretched his hand out and clasped it with the fading boy's and the boy pulled him up and a bright flash of light engulfed him.

Allen sat up. He was in a room he didn't recognize and looked around. There wasn't anything intimidating in here except for a couple of . . . What is that? Arms and . . Legs? He grabbed the covers of the bed he was lying down and began to walk towards the small enclosed shelves.

As he got close to the shelves, he saw that they were just prosthesis which he sighed with relief. Komui would be in heaven if he saw those. Footsteps approached as Allen's mind started to freak out of why they were in such an odd place.

"How much longer are you going to be standing there gaping like an idiot?"

He jumped and saw the same boy that was actually the same boy that saw him running away from the Akuma.

"Well. . . um. . . . " stuttered Allen before the boy laughed. As Allen stared at him dumbly, he saw that this boy was the same boy he saw in his dream except he looked around six years older.

"Are you hungry?" asked the blonde. He leaned against the door frame. At the exact same time, Allen's stomach growled loudly, and he blushed.

The boy laughed again and said, "I'll take that as a 'yes'. Come on. I have some food waiting in the kitchen."

He turned around and started walking and Allen followed. Once he was out of the room, a good smell of scrambled eggs set his mouth watering.

"Um. . . May I ask what your name is?" asked Allen rather shyly. The boy took a pan loaded with scrambled eggs and began loading it on the plate with a spoon before replying, "It's Edward Elric. But just call me Ed." Edward offered his left hand and Allen took it.

"Mine's Allen Walker," said Allen. He took a seat while Edward shoved a plate full of scrambled eggs and baked potatoes and a bowl of stew.

"Now eat," said Edward with his hands on his hips.

Edward studied Allen hard as soon as he began to eat.

He never seen anyone else eat that fast and that much before . . . until he met Allen.

Allen was literally wolfing down the whole thing as quick as a wolf would eat a deer except that he ate it much cleaner than a wolf would.

Allen stopped for a moment and blushed with embarrassment.

"Sorry, it's—"

Edward dismissively waved his hand, "Its fine. It does look as if you haven't ate for days."

Allen continued his meal after that until the plate was licked clean.

"Umm. . . . Are there any seconds?" asked Allen.

"Sure," was the reply and Allen relaxed. He could still feel the storm inside his stomach called starvation.

After twenty-one plates of scrambled eggs, ten baked potatoes, and fifteen bowls of stew, Allen was full. Edward was amazed to see him eat all of that, whilst it would probably him a full month to do that.

"Thanks for the meal!" said Allen happily.

Edward cracked a smile, "You also should thank me for the clothes."

Allen reddens when he finally noticed the clothes which were not the clown outfit and the usual British black, grey, and white. This time, it was in a German style with brown and white.

Edward took Allen's dishes to the sink and began to wash them.

Silence fell between the two until Allen asked, "How did you get away from the Akuma?"

Akuma? So that's what those things were called. And obviously, they are not devils despite the name. But I guess that makes sense when they are highly hazardous,Edward thought.

"Honestly, I don't really know. I just carried you from the roof, climbed down on a pipe, an Akuma that looked like an angel with a pentacle on its fat belly nearly killed me with its stupid bullet, and they bickered if I was a Noah or not, whatever a Noah is. I think it was my eyes that confused the Akuma the first time. The second, I think it was something else . . . "

Allen jumped at when Edward said 'Noah' which he saw that it was bad.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Erm. . . yes," said Allen. His eyes began to narrow with suspicion. "It's the Noah part."

Edward grew more curious. "Can you tell me about Noah or Noah's?"

"Well . . . they are a group of thirteen people that can control Akuma and they're the only one. Each Noah has a different special ability like touching whatever they want to touch, control a very fast method of transportation, and read people's mind. I don't really want to talk about it. I have some bad experiences with them," Allen answered hesitantly.

"Oh," said Edward. He remembered the homunculi and Dante. They were something similar to that of those 'Noah's'.

"And . . . You're not a Noah are you?" asked Allen.

Edward nearly sputtered with laughter as he washed the dishes. "No I'm not. If you're asking me about my eye color, it was a one in a million chance of getting that same color as my father's."

Allen relaxed a bit and asked another question, "Are you. . . You know. . . About my left arm?"

Edward laughed, "You saw those prosthesis from my room did you?"

Allen nodded.

"I wear them."

Allen's eyes widened.

"You mean you lost both of your arm and leg?"

Edward nodded.

"How?"

". . . . In a childhood accident," said Edward.

"Can you show me?"

Edward turned off the faucet and walked back towards the table. He lifted his right arm and removed the skin covering hesitantly showing the gleaming metal of automail Hohenheim made.

"I'm not exactly comfortable with people staring at my arm like this so I wear the skin covering to make things more relaxing."

Allen stared at the prosthesis hard. Edward could tell that he was trying to figure out how they work so well.

"There is a port on my right shoulder—" he tapped his finger at the port "—that connects the prosthesis to the nerves. You have to have a surgery to connect that. When I had the surgery after the childhood accident. My childhood friend told me that the pain was enough to make a tough, body builder soldier scream and cry. She's seen a lot of people who done that."

He smiled sadly.

Allen looked at the boy's eyes. They used to be fierce with determination, but now they are no other than the eyes of people who've seen too much . . . like him. Edward has gone through a lot and is so similar to him, except for the fact that he wasn't born deformed and is not an accommodator to Innocence.

His left eye suddenly activated and he saw Edward jumped in surprise. Akuma!Was the only thing he thought before a blast came and shattered the windows of the kitchen.

"It's Akuma!" shouted Allen to Edward. Edward nodded and clapped his hands. At first Allen thought he was praying since he just clapped when an Akuma intruded, but blue sparks and a metallic sound rang throughout the air and a wall shot out.

Allen stared in amazement as he activated Crown Clown. He's an accommodator? Allen thought. He slashed through a level three with his black and sleek looking claw as it exploded.

"Hey Allen! Is there any way we can destroy these things? My automail won't work!"

Allen turned around to see Edward dodging a level three and created another wall to block the bullets. A blade came from his prosthesic which he assumed that was automail. So he's not an accommodator.

"Alchemy won't work either!"

Alchemy? According to Lavi, wasn't that a dead art?

Allen shouted back, "You have to have Innocence! It's the only way to purify the Akuma's soul and send it to where it should belong!"

"Innocence? Whatever the hell that is I don't have it!" Edward shouted back from behind the wall. The level three went over the wall and tried to shoot Edward, but unsuccessfully. The golden haired boy flipped backwards toward the door to the kitchen and created another wall where he can hide once again.

"Damn! If only we had a talisman we could hold off the level three!" swore Allen as he slashed the level three Akuma that tried to kill Edward.

"Talisman? I don't know what that is! Wait . . . . Did you say something about a soul earlier?" shouted Edward as he ran to Allen's side.

"Yes. Akuma are made out of three things, 'machine', 'soul', and 'despair'. That's what makes an Akuma. Why?" Edward looked at the next level three and replied quickly, "As long as there's a soul, then that's fine. Also, nice eye!"

"It's useless to try and destroy it without Innocence!" Allen protested.

"I'm not going to do that. I'm just saying that I found a way that can stop and paralyze Akuma for minutes. Which I'm going to do now!"

Edward ran towards the level three and all Allen could do was wait. He saw Edward clap his hand and touched his fingers to the level three. After he did his work the Akuma continued to move, but very sluggishly. It moved very slowly until it came to a stop and fell to the ground.

Edward landed and grabbed the ledge of the war torn kitchen and shouted to Allen, "Let's get out of here!" Allen immediately nodded. He looked around, for Timcanpy. He forgot about the golden golem when he was running away from the Akuma. Then Allen noticed a spark of gold appearing in the rain and landed on his head.

"Timcanpy! So that's where you were!" Allen exclaimed. He looked around to find Edward nowhere in sight.

"Ed! Where are you?" shouted Allen.

"Down here! If you see a flash of blue lightning, then that's me! Got it?" shouted a voice down below.

Allen ran towards the edge of the building and saw Edward paralyzing more Akuma before he motioned to Allen to come down the street.

Allen jumped down onto the street, his mask on and deactivated Crown Clown.

"Yes?" asked Allen.

"We're going into the alley. That's how I got away from them. Whatever you do, go quietly and don't try to make any light. You've got good night vision do you?"

Allen nodded. Edward breathed out with satisfaction and he turned around to a very dark looking alley and said, "Let's go."

AAN: REVIEW!