TWOL CH 59: The Puppetmaster

The Waters of Lethe</u>

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, I just like to play around in it's world and toy with Ed's emotions for awhile

Author's note: post series and slightly AU. Some movie events may happen, but differently

Warnings: movie spoilers. Also violence, death and maybe sex

Beta: Jedimasterwithapen

59. The Puppetmaster (Das Puppetmaster)

Eckart could have told Mengele even this simple request would not be met.

It took the combined strength of four Thule soldiers (one at each arm, and two shoving from behind) to dig the Shambalan out of the corner he'd wedged himself into. After three minutes of fierce struggle, all parties involved were sweaty and out of sorts. The soldiers were too well trained to yell out in pain so they just grunted when Edward's heels landed solid blows on their shins.

But a curse was ripped from the lips of one man when his hand got too close to Edward's mouth and his thumb was bitten to the bone. By now it was quite clear to Mengele the prisoner would not be persuaded to sit in the chair. He changed his plans accordingly.

"Lay him face down on the bed!" he ordered and then looked guiltily over at Eckart, but she just reinforced the order with a short nod. "Hold him as still as you can."

/

Edward had no illusions about what was going to happen. He had only a faint hope of breaking free and escaping out the door, but he felt compelled to try anyways.

But it was no good. He couldn't yank his arms from the iron grip of the soldiers. With nothing to lose, he determined to make them suffer and unleashed vicious kicks on whatever shins he could reach. His sharp teeth clamped down on an errant thumb and drew blood but that was the extent of his "victories".

He was flung down upon the bed and held there. He tried to kick but he could barely move because the soldiers were bearing down with their entire weight. A hand shoved his face tightly against the bed covers and he bucked desperately because this action made it difficult to breathe. Someone was pulling up his shirt from where it was tucked into his pants to expose his ribs. He shivered convulsively when one spot between two of them was rubbed with something cold and wet.

Edward's scream of pain was muffled in a pillow when he felt the needle bite deep into his side. He was held down for a few minutes longer before they abruptly released him.

Edward raised his head and gulped in large breaths of the foul,chilly air for a few moments.

Not long after that, he began to feel strange in a way he couldn't quite explain.

His body was slowly going numb, and it felt heavy as lead. Sounds made in his cell seemed to be faint, as if far away. Edward rolled on to his back and glared at nothing and no one in particular. He attempted to fight the affect of the drug that was taking over, but his vision was narrowing andthe edges were slowly growing black.

Edward passed out.

/

Deep within the subconscious, the Edward-as-Ego suddenly lurched up and shivered. The formerly warm pool of water he floated in had become very cold. He sat up and noticed ice forming along the shore.

This can't be right, something is wrong, he thought.

He stood up and waded to the pier, climbed up and went to find the Edward-as-Id.

In the pine forest around the pool, the Edward-as-Id also noticed the change. The air was colder and he saw the trees were dropping their needles in a fragrant rain. The air was redolent of evergreen scent, but it smelled moldy, as if the needles were rotten.

Something is very wrong.

Now he saw a light flitting jerkily between the bare branches, it came floating towards him, pulsing gently from blue to red. The Edward-as-Id looked at it in dismay as it nestled on his palms.

This was Edward-as-Soul, and it didn't look very happy. His breath puffed out in clouds and he started when something white began floating to the ground all about.

It looks like - snow?

He'd rarely seen snow in the subconscious before, and it happened only three times before. Once when this host's mother died, once when the human transmutation failed, and once when the host sacrificed himself. But the snow never had fallen so thickly before or so fast. He turned towards the pool and moved at a quick trot to find the Edward-as-Ego.

They must protect the Edward-as-Soul.

/

Eckart and Hess watched Edward's eyes close and his breathing even out. Mengele stood by the bed with his arms folded and a slight frown on his handsome face.

He looked over at Eckart and smiled his not-quite-human smile again. "If you want the Shambalan to answer to you, your voice must be the first thing he hears. Let us test the puppet, give him an order."

Eckart swallowed hard before she fixed a stern look on her face.

"Sit up!" she snapped in a tone she thought sounded firm.

His eyes still closed, Edward did so.

"Wake up!"

His eyes shot open and Eckart gasped. His beautiful golden eyes stared glassily and they looked wider than normal because the pupils had shrunk to tiny pinpricks. Mengele nodded in approval.

"The drug has taken effect from the first dose, but several subsequent doses will be required to put him completely under your control. I have perfected this drug into pill form as well. Then it will be easier to administer than daily injections."

Eckart looked over at the doctor with warm admiration naked on her face. "And just what do you call this wonder drug of yours?"

"Puppetmaster, Fraulein Eckart. I call it The Puppetmaster."