The Gunslinger Alchemist (Fullmetal Alchemist Fanfiction)

Lisberth, West Area

May 5th, 1915

One of the transmutation circles on the back of Miriam's left arm began to glow bright blue, and Carlyle had half a second to figure out what the female alchemist was about to do. The glowing transmutation circle contained the symbols for carbon, oxygen, and silicon contained in a deconstruction matrix. In short, the transmutation circle could be used to destroy stone.

An instant before Major Carlyle could get his barrel on the female alchemist's midsection, a large cloud of thick gray smoke exploded out of the stone wall, and his sight of the two individuals was blocked completely. Miriam must have deconstructed the molecules in the stone wall in order to make a smoke screen.

Moving quickly, Carlyle reached toward the bulky messenger bag leaning against his hip. The straps came unfastened, and the contents within the bag were revealed. Inside of the bag was a large stack of metal disks, and a different transmutation circle was inscribed on each one. Carlyle swiftly picked one disk out of the bag and inserted it into the groove built into his right glove. He knelt down and touched his fist to the ground.

Blue lightning crackled outward, and a large stone pillar erupted upward once more, carrying Carlyle and Hotchkiss high into the air. As the two men ascended, Carlyle took the opportunity to load three more personalized rounds into the cylinder of his revolver and placed another disk into the divot built into his left glove. He hesitated for half a second before loading the last bullet into the chamber. In the depths of his heart, he truly did not want to use that last bullet.

The transmutation circle inserted into his left glove contained the symbols for phosphorus, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen in an alteration matrix. That particular circle formed the bedrock of medical alchemy. The human body could be altered in just about any way through the use of that circle as long as the alchemist was skilled enough.

With that newly-ascended position, Carlyle aimed his pistol at the wall beyond the stone pillar he had created with alchemy a moment before. The two criminals would certainly use the smoke screen to attempt an escape. A few seconds passed, and then a figure sprinted out of the cloud of smoke. Carlyle fired once more, and another stone pillar appeared farther down the wall. He hoped that the pillar would slow Miriam enough that they could catch up with her before she could get through the pillar. Elias Miller and the female alchemist would have to get past one of the thick stone pillars in order to escape.

Carlyle blinked as a single frightened individual approached the newly-created pillar of stone. Elias Miller stood there, trapped by the pillar, but Miriam was nowhere to be seen.

This confusion only lasted a moment, however. An instant later, Carlyle's stomach lurched as his body began to fall. He looked down and saw his stone tower begin to fall off the tall battlement. A quick blur of red was the only evidence Major Carlyle had that Miriam was behind their sudden unplanned descent.

Simon Carlyle swore as he frantically reached down toward the ground once more. After a half second of flailing, he managed to touch the falling pillar with his right hand. Lightning arced outward, and three long spikes fired out of the pillar, impaling themselves into the fort's wall. Major Carlyle and Lieutenant Hotchkiss crashed into the pillar as its downward momentum was suddenly halted. Luckily, the pillar had only fallen a few meters, so the two soldiers only suffered minor bruising.

"Go!" Major Carlyle shouted to Hotchkiss. "Go after Elias Miller! I'll deal with the female alchemist!"

"Yes, sir!" Lieutenant Hotchkiss answered with no hesitation. He rose to his feet and began climbing back on to the battlement like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Just as Hotchkiss was pulling himself up to the wall, Miriam appeared out of the smoke and began reaching a clawed hand in his direction. Before she could reach Hotchkiss, a bullet zipped a few centimeters in front of Miriam's face as the cylinder on Carlyle's revolver put his fourth bullet behind the barrel.

"You don't have the privilege of splitting your attention, girl," Carlyle said derisively.

"I'll just deal with you first, State Alchemist," Miriam said. She stepped off the battlement and landed heavily upon the pillar placed precariously over a precipitous drop.

"You're too confident. If I was taking you seriously, I would have killed you with that last shot. Alchemy won't save you from a bullet in the brain." Carlyle smirked and lightly twirled his revolver on one finger as he spoke.

"And you're too arrogant," Miriam responded angrily. "You didn't shoot me because you think I'm not a threat. I'll prove you wrong!"

The female alchemist charged toward Major Carlyle in a loose fighting stance, prompting Carlyle to skillfully return his revolver to its holster and take up a fighting stance of his own. Miriam swung at the State Alchemist, attempting to touch his vulnerable body with the dangerous transmutation circles etched onto her body.

Carlyle dodged the frantic assault with minimal effort. He had been in the army for nearly seven years, and he knew that even the most sophisticated battles frequently devolved into hand-to-hand combat. Like a professional boxer, Carlyle weaved around Miriam's hands. Just as the female alchemist's frantic assault threatened to force him off the side of the horizontal stone pillar, he launched his counter attack.

With the speed of a boxer's jab, Carlyle's left hand shot forward, lightly touching Miriam's midsection. A muted blue light momentarily lit the female alchemist's stomach, and she jerked backwards in shock.

Frantically, Miriam placed her hands on the location where Carlyle had touched her. A look of confusion crossed over her face as she realized that she wasn't in any pain.

Her expression changed once more to one of anger as she shouted, "What did you do!?"

"Nothing much," Carlyle said with another smirk. As he spoke, Miriam fell to one knee. "I just transmuted some of the elements in your blood into a powerful tranquilizer. Don't worry, I'll wake you up when we get to the station."

She clenched her teeth as she tried to get the ground beneath her to come into focus. Then, unexpectedly, bright arcs of lightning shot out of the pillar beneath them.

"Wait, hold on," Major Carlyle muttered sheepishly as the stone pillar he stood on was transmuted into sand.