#fma x reader

"There's nowhere to run this time!" Al's echoy voice said from the other side of the alleyway, effectively trapping the former freezing alchemist between three alchemist that he'd have to fight if he made any attempt at escaping, but Instead of showing any signs of nervousness, McDougal just laughed, giving you a creepy smile. 

"Clearly....but who's running?" 

He raised his arms like a mock showman and a column of bright red transmutation energy flickered to life from the circle behind him, It shot up into the sky like an electrical beam, multiple others just like it appearing within different parts of the city. Out of instinct you moved closer to Ed as you watched each red beam shoot up into the sky, this shouldn't be possible, an alchemic reaction on this scale is hard even for the most skilled alchemists.

So for an ex military officer, one who fought in the Ishvalen civil war to accomplish something on this level....

"There's reactions all over the city!" Ed cried out looking up at the sky "That's impossible, the scale is too large! Unless..." Al started to trail off in disbelief "Brother, could it be? Does he have-"

"A Philosopher's Stone!" Ed finished for him with an excited but feral smile overcoming his face before it quickly fell when the air changed from a scorching heat that always came from an alchemic transmutation to an eerie chill. Ice crept through the cracks in the ground and when you let out an experimental breath, it turned into mist. 

He's freezing the moisture in the air.

"Edward Elric..." McDougal drawled, bringing your attention back to him. "You've sworn your life to act as a dog of the military, but do you even know what this military is trying to do?" You frowned at that, was this his attempt at deflecting the blame for the damage he's caused? His reason for killing as many as he did? You're not stupid, it's basically an open secret that the military isn't completely squeaky clean and made up of heroes designed to protect its country and citizens. 

But it's less compelling to listen to a man who indulges in the very same actions as the people he's against.

"Who cares? It's not my problem!" Ed retorted back, gritting his teeth against the cold.

"Don't be a fool! Bradley's going to lead this country to ruin!"

"I told you, I don't care!"

Al jumped over the giant ice wall that was built after McDougal's transmutation, landing right behind him as he took a couple of swings at the man, knocking him right out of the alley and straight into a railing with a bodily thump. As he tried to catch his breath, all three of you started to cautiously surround him "So where is it? You have a philosopher's stone don't you?

But McDougal only let out a raspy, sarcastic chuckle "What are you talking about?

"I won't ask again, where is it?! I'll force it out of you if I have too!" Ed snarled, switching to a threat the minute he realized he wouldn't get what wanted with a simple talk.

"And how are you gonna do that, huh? Face it kid, you're out of your league!" As McDougal spoke, the large fountain behind him exploded, creating an endlessly growing wall of ice that he was able to grab onto, disappearing quickly while the ice expanded over the fountain's barrier, towards them.

Both Al and you reacted immediately, Al making a pathway for you to follow while you grabbed Ed's hand to keep up with him and stay together. The three of you ran past Armstrong, who had presumably spotted the massive, moving ice wall "Stand back and prepare for a display of Armstrong alchemy!" "Go for it, Major!" Ed shouted as his gauntlets shone an electric blue. "Witness the alchemic art passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" The man threw his arm forward, landing a heavy punch on the base of the wall.

Upon contact the wall skewed off into a completely different direction, hitting a nearby apartment building.

'Oh, he made it way worse' You thought with amusement born from panic, watching screaming civilians scramble out of the way before the ground shook. If you could still talk, you'd probably have let out a loud curse as you and Edward mindlessly grabbed onto each other so that neither of you fell to the ground "The ice- it's converging!" Al shouted in alarm as you looked at the growing ice walls coming from different sections of the city "Which means..." Ed said slowly, connecting the dots. "Dammit, it's Central Command! He's gonna freeze it over!"

Your face tightened as you pulled on his sleeve "Are we splitting up? We can't all go after him—"

"Leave the circles to me." Armstrong interjected sharply "Three people against him will slow him down enough for me, so go!" You gave the older man a nod and fled deeper into the city alongside Ed and Al, McDougal stood on the edge of his multitude of moving ice walls, perched like a sea captain commanding his fleet of ships. You hurriedly dug through your coat pocket and tossed Al a piece of chalk so that he could draw a transmutation circle, hitching a ride with Ed instead as you grabbed onto his shoulders and let him launch the two of you upwards and directly in McDougal's path, Al following a few seconds later, metal clinking behind you.

McDougal barely gave any of you a moment to breathe before he had molded the ice into a large wave, only to be countered by Ed decimating the ice he stood on, pushing him backwards into the air. You intercepted by dropping to the ground and curving a thick shield made out of the edge of the ice you were standing on, remembering his habit of heating up water as a means of escape.

First the night before, second earlier that day, and again this time.

A clear cut pattern.

While the wall was left significantly thinner than you would have hoped, it kept the boiling rain McDougal made from burning you or Ed. On the other hand, it obstructed everyone's view, so all three of you were caught off guard when McDougal was suddenly in your face once again. Al's response to this is to grab both you and Ed by the back of your coats but having that many people in his arms would surely slow him down and possibly prove fatal since McDougal could just grab one of you by the limbs and inflict long lasting damage.

So you make a decision, a certainly stupid one but a decision that slows him down nonetheless.

You drop down once again to avoid being grabbed by Al, which alarms both him and Ed if the sound of your name coming from the two of them all panicked and confused confirms anything by it. You slap a hand against the icy floor and transmute it at the same time McDougals hand misses touching your face by an inch, the floor underneath the two of you crumbles into nothing as you descend downward back onto the street, you hear two shouts, but the wind rushing past your ears as you basically plummet down makes them hard to hear.

You're lucky that you keep that random hammer on you or else you would have been in the same predicament as McDougal. The man crumbles to the ground like a puppet cut from its strings after hitting his body on multiple jagged edges of ice, you slide down the ice wall, almost slipping face first onto the ground once you reach the bottom but you manage to steady yourself.

Al and Ed follow behind you a few minutes after you hit the ground and you are immediately getting an angry, agitated blonde in your face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was!? You could have gotten hurt! or worse!" He exclaimed, sticking a finger right in your face as he grit his teeth and glared like you personally wronged him.

But his eyes held fear, fear and worry as he looked you over like you'd disappear if he didn't keep his eyes on you.

"Al couldn't grab us both." You reasoned, looking back at McDougal who still hadn't budged from where he'd landed, probably still dazed by his fall and the injury he now had on his shoulder. Ed made an unidentifiable noise, one between anger and worry before he directed his attention at your injured target, you sighed a little, knowing that even though he redirected the target of his anger that you will be getting an earful from both him and Al later after this.

"There's no water for you to use, so give it up!" Ed ordered as he walked towards the injured killer "Just tell us what we wanna know!"

McDougal chuckled, weakly pushing himself up with his hands "You're forgetting, I have all the water I need— 70% of my body!"

Your eyes widened as several lengths of solidified blood extended from McDougal's fingers, pricing through Ed's right shoulder, Al is the first to move, breaking the solid blood spikes as Ed drops to his knees from the sudden pain, you're right beside him in a heartbeat, checking over the wound and the ice cold spike still imbedded into his skin.

McDougal struggled to his feet "Why can't you fools understand? I'm trying to save this country!" the ground shook once more as his giant ice walls finally caught up, McDougal turned, examining his work as frost began to creep up the side of Central Command, and laughed. 

And he kept laughing as he started walking away.

"Brother?" Al questioned with worry as he kneeled in front of the two of you "I'm not done." Ed grit out, suppressing a pained grunt as he tore the red spike from his shoulder. Your face twisted into a frown but you made no effort in discouraging him, you destroyed an ice pillar underneath your feet and could have plummeted to your death if you weren't careful enough, trying to stop Ed would just be hypocritical.

So you help him stand up and follow the direction McDougal went in.

In the end, it's the Fuhrer who takes down Issac The Freezer. By the time the three of you arrived for another attempt at capturing him, he was nothing more than a body under a white sheet.

McDougal is now dead and so is another lead at finding a philosopher stone.

The one-eyed man diverges all the credit to Mustang in the end though, not really caring much about the situation other than the fact it will make an exciting story for his son. Edward ends up in the hospital due to his stab wound, You and Al came by extension so that he wasn't left alone and so you could be checked out as well(Al insisted that you did despite your many attempts at saying you were fine.) Your only two problems were that the skin on your hand had gained an irritated rash due to your tight grip on your hammer as you fell from the air at a high speed and the freezing cold temperatures during the fight.

Your second problem? Edward was still mad at you for the stunt you pulled.

"It was dangerous and you know it!" He spat, glaring at you from his hospital bed with both hands tightening around the blanket, Al laid a gentle pat against his brother's back "Brother calm down." He said softly before turning his helmet towards your direction "But i agree with him, what you did was very dangerous (Name)" you stood there with your head hung low as you stared at the ground with a pouty expression.

Like the either of them haven't also attempted and did dangerous things to keep the other safe.

But not like you can really voice that right now.

So you use your next best trick.

The puppy eyes. The infamous puppy eyes Ed, Al and even Winry, for all of her stubbornness that somehow outweighed Edward's couldn't stay mad at.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want you guys getting hurt, I was thinking about the two of you."

The effect is immediate, Al's metal body sags and Ed's jaw tightens, and while yes most would consider this as a bad sign, you know this is him fighting the urge to just accept the slowly receding anger.

The advantages of being childhood friends.

"If I let Al grab me, he would have used our shared slowness against us. I wasn't trying to be a martyr, I promise."

"It's okay (Name)!" Al interjects, always the most forgiving one between him and Ed "It's just very scary when you do dangerous things without consulting brother or I of a plan first, we made codes for that, remember?" Of course you remember, the year Ed was doing his physical therapy after the colonel came knocking on Granny's door you had picked up learning sign language and by extension so did everyone else in the house. Soon after Ed passed his state alchemist exam and whisked you to the city with him and Al, you made secret nonverbal codes for certain situations.

But you hadn't used them, not like you had time too anyway, but you could have sent one of them a look that would explain why you almost let yourself fall and achieve a cracked open skull.

"I know, I'm sorry." You repeat again, looking at them both with a small, but fond smile. "forgive me?" 

"Of course you're forgiven!" Al exclaimed happily, sending you a thumbs up before all attention turned back to Ed who was still, halfheartedly really, glaring at you with gritted teeth.

The puppy eyes intensified and his face flushed a darker red.

"Okay! Whatever! Apology accepted now, stop looking at me like that!" They never fail when used against him, you let out this amused snort and hide the growing smile on your face behind the sleeve of your coat.

"Don't laugh at me!" He shouts, flustered and angry but for a different reason this time.

Too bad Major Armstrong had to cut it short.