Women, wine, and music... perfect, no?

Xanthus Icarus was walking around in Creta, quite calmly despite the fact that he was born in Amestris. Of course, Xan wasn’t playing the part of a typical Amestrian militant today. No, he was playing the part of Famine, a member of the Fuhrer’s special task force today.


After the incident in South City, Xan had travelled to Central, where he owned a little house. On his doorstep had been am envelope with the seal of the Fuhrer on it instead of a postcard. Curious, though knowing exactly what the note inside would say, Xan opened the envelope, and as he expected, he found an invitation to join the Four Horsemen. Assuming his acceptance of the new position, the Fuhrer had assigned the new Famine a mission. Gather intelligence about Creta’s military, including weaponry, frontier bases, and vehicles, and report back to the Fuhrer.


As was becoming a good habit for him, the Ishvalan was wearing his matrix style outfit: A long black trench coat covered a black collared button-up shirt, which was tucked into black slacks. Black socks were inside of boots that were polished so thoroughly that they almost literally shined, even though they were jet black. The only thing that Xan was wearing that wasn’t black was his tie, which was white. Even his glasses were jet black, hiding his red eyes that were currently gleaming with their usual cool amusement.



Xan had completed his mission and was on his way back to Amestris. However, he thought that it might be a good idea to stop at a local bar before he headed back. ‘I may as well sample Cretan liquor while I’m here.’ Famine thought to himself with an amused smile. Why not? After all, as Famine Xan had a paycheck with so many zeroes even he almost considered it to be madness. Almost.


As the Ishvallan entered the bar, he saw a man being brought to the ground by what appeared to be a paralyzing technique. Looking at the man who was on the ground, then at the man who had put him there, Xan shrugged. Let the stupid Cretans fight, it wasn’t Xan’s problem. Then the alchemist noticed that the man on the ground was blind. That changed things. Xan had once had a friend who was blind, and seeing this blind man on the ground reminded him of that friend.

Walking over to where the incident had taken place, Xan looked at the blind man’s assailant. He looked at the man through his shades before speaking in perfect Cretan.

I suppose that you had a reason to use a paralyze technique on a blind person?

Murazar just stepped off the train, his mission was quite simple. Recon and Assassinate, it was the original job he had taken from Reila and the one he enjoyed more than being the Chief of Intelligence. He growled lightly as he dropped a small dagger covered in blood into a nearby trashcan. His target was travelling incognito, and had no bodyguards. Which made it exceptionally easy for him to kill him, the target you ask?

A Drachman Officer, some brigadier general or some such who was going to negotiate some supplies to the front line. He was of course dressed as normal, his black suit with a white under shirt. The inside of the jacket had two .45 calibur hardballer pistols, and several bags of phosphurous dirt was spread across him discreetly. He even had two silencers attached to the pistols, not that silencers actually did anything. So long as loud noises were around they could be used halfway effectively, after all what people saw in the movies was the complete opposite of what real silencers did.

He decided that since he had a few hours to take a different train and leave he'd hit a bar since his belly was craving alcohol. Within minutes he had entered a random pub, the scene inside was a odd mess. He saw a blind man on the ground, apparently incapable of moving. The man nearby had a girl, obviously a prositute. He looked Drachman, his facial features anyway. The other man... Was that Icarus?!? What luck to find his old friend turned enemy without him even saying goodbye to him. It was currently unknown how Icarus would react to him, but it was more than likely that it would be hostile.

He decided to silently go around them and go to the bar, quickly paying for a bottle of whiskey before seeing bar quickly empty except for the bartender and the unconcious man. The prosititute was obviously wishing to leave, and the Drachman coupled with Xan looked ready to fight. He decided to hold onto the bottle as he pulled out a small amount of phosphurous dirt to hold in his fire hand. He should be able to use the liquor from the bottle to create a diversion if necessray and exit the bar into the alleyway for a better vantage point. He kept his eyes over at the two men and held it, in Xan's prior experience he would think that his hand that was clenched into a fist was empty since his last experience was the hand holding the liquor was the wind hand and the dangerous one at that.

Xan did look around the bar, and he saw that there was indeed a prostitute and that the man on the ground was drunk and was…a little bit too happy. The Ishvallan didn’t need to look into the situation any further, as it was now very obvious what had transpired. Looking at the man (who was Sashura, but Xan didn’t know that yet) Xan was about to introduce himself, but before he could, the blind man yelled something about kung fu and launched himself toward the man who had just defeated him so easily before. Sashura just stepped to the left, and the blind man kept flying, headed directly towards…Dauthi?!

The Ishvallan had read the profiles of every alchemist in Amestris, as was his privilege now that he was Famine. Apparently quite a few people had gotten more powerful, and this included Murazar. However, since Xan had the advantage of knowing about Murazar’s abilities, he was prepared for anything that Dauthi might care to throw at him, provided that he was hostile towards Xan.

Murazar nearly groaned as the blind idiot flung himself at him in a horrid fighting style sort of way. He growled lightly before the distance was closed, he tossed the bottle up in the air. His face took on a frigid, steely expression of pure control and calm. Almost a madness few people understood as he sidestepped the blind man and tripped him. Before he fell he twisted his arm behind his back and as he slammed into the ground he dropped to where his knee was on his throat. He could either let him go, crush his throat which would kill him, or simply choke him into unconsciousness. He chose the last.

After a few seconds the man passed out. He stood back up, just in time to catch the whiskey bottle by its handle right side up. As he looked up his eyes matched Icarus's, he unplugged the bottle and took a swig out of it to calm his hand tremors and he poured the rest on the blind mans back. Just in case the fool awoke later and he had to light him on fire. He threw the bottle behind him so it shattered on the wall, then he spoke in Cretarian. Something hardly anyone knew officially that he spoke multiple languages fluently." A Traitor, a Drachman Officer, and a Mercenary Assassin. I suppose this isn't the start of a good bar joke." His sarcasm oozed out of his voice, his politeness was gone. His voice remained calm, in control, however it seemed hostile even if he hadn't began a battle yet.

His hands clenched together, this way he could begin the battle with the wind if necessary. Xanthus would of course know he was already battle ready, the other man would think however he was going to brawl. Which would effectively be scary enough since he took the blind man down as if it was handling an unruly child.

The tension in the air was palpable. Xanthus recalled that no one in Amestris knew that he was Famine, so to them, he was still the rouge alchemist known as Leviathan. The irony was that the Ishvallan was fighting an Amestrian in Creta, when by all accounts, they should both be attacking the Drachman. However, the Drachman did not seem to want a fight, so Xan decided to leave him be for the moment.

Xan saw the blind man crash through a wall and his lips twitched. Well, at least that idiot was gone. Now it was time for the real fun to begin. If Dauthi wanted a fight, then Xan would be happy to oblige him.

Murazar Dauthi. It’s been a long time. Do you really want to fight me assassin? We both know how it will end. You’ll go running back to Briggs with your tail between your legs like a beaten dog, and I’ll walk out of this place without a scratch on me.

Murazar kept his expression cold and frozen, so Xanthus was going to initiate the battle or at least egg him into doing so. Murazar didn't want to begin it because whoever saw the others abilities and limits first could form a plan to win. It was obvious that the first blow would be important, but it wasn't as important if the other simply evaded and learned.

He replied instead, his face keeping the expression that seemed to fit his alias. The Wind of Death." Well Icarus, thats quite a bit of overconfidence you have there. Do you feed it regularly with betrayal and burned trust and respect? I suppose we could have a three-way battle with that Drachman involved, I can't after all leave an enemy alone. "

He changed his language to Drachman and spoke to the Officer," What do you say? Care to join the battle that is about to happen? If not you might as well, because i'm not letting you go if I can help it." He kicked over a stool and walked away from the bar to give himself more room to manuever. His eyes remained on everyone in the room.

Xanthus was amused. To be lectured on loyalty by an assassin was hilarious! However, the Ishvallan was done with words for the moment. If Dauthi would not initiate the battle, then Xan would do so himself!

Before Xan could do so however, the blind man's (hopefully) unconscious body sailed through the air at the assassin. With a small chuckle, Xan touched the ground lightly with his left hand. A block of stone was pulled up from the floor. Placing the stone block in his right hand, the Ishvallan pointed the stone at Dauthi. Suddenly, stone started to deconstruct, forming dozens of inch long spikes that were aimed at Dauthi. This was a new technique that Xan had been working on that he called a Controlled Deconstruction.

The Ishvallan was curious to see how exactly Dauthi handled a body and dozens of spikes being projected in his direction.

Murazar frowned as suddenly a body was sailling towards him, and Icarus had thrown apparently a giant rod that was falling apart and sending shards at him. He grinned for a moment before taking the palmful of phosphorous dirt and throwing it at the ground. He pulled out one of his .45 pistols into his opposite hand of the wind hand as he blast crescent high density wind cutting through the floor and he used his pistol in conjuction to shoot partially the sides of what looked like a hole appearing in the floor.

He quickly fell through into the liqour basement and landed on several barrels of what appeared to be rum. He decided to pull out his opposite pistol and began to fire simultaniously upwards into the next floor above him. He shot from where he remembered approximately where Icarus and the Drachman was. As his pistols emptied, he reloaded them and put them away before grabbing a handful of phosphurous dirt in each hand and sprinting up the stairs to the upper story.

It turned out the flight of stairs went to the second floor of the building which made it easy to deliver alcohol to the patrons who stayed overnight. It had a pulley system rigged up for delivery of the alcohol down to the first floor. He decided to take the advantage of it to prepare either to have the higher ground inside the inn/pub while also being able to move up to the roof if necessary.

Xanthus had reacted quickly to Dauthi's movements, accurately predicting that the assassin would shoot upwards from beneath the ground. Putting his right hand on the floor, he destroyed the section that was underneath him, so that when the bullets started to fly, they passed harmlessly over his head and a foot or two to the left or right. He had landed just in time to see Dauthi run up the stairs. Hmm...now where could he be going? It didn't matter, because from down here, Xan could control the course of the battle...

Using his construction alchemy, Xanthus caused a section on the floor (not where he was standing) to go straight through the bar, going even through the roof. Exactly why Xan wanted a stone pillar going through the bar? Simple, because he needed a way to get to the roof that did not involve taking the stairs. After all, an old military tactic was to always have the high ground right?

Xan placed his hands against the pillar and closed his eyes to concentrate. Using deconstruction, he hollowed out the pillar, then using reconstruction, he filled the pillar with a staircase that led to and opening on the roof. And to complete his creation, Xan blasted a door into it so that he could climb the staircase.

Knowing that he would need a weapon, Xan transmuted some nearby metal into two swords, one for each hand. Perfect. Holding the swords in a double reverse grip style, Xan ran to the staircase and began the ascension to the roof.

Murazar put all his weight into the door, crashing into the ground as it burst and splinter open. He got back up and threw more ignition powder in the air before pulling his pistols out. It turned out he was first to be up top, he looked around noticing most of the rooftops in the city were close together enough to jump into them. He kept note of that as he readied himself for battle. He turned back around and backed up to the edge of the building. It was taller that the other, as a plus the bar had no glass cemented in the top of it. Every other building as far as the eye could see had that. Except for warehouses and bars.

He knelt down to get a better rating on his accuracy as he looked down the only doorway. His guess was about twenty meters. So if he had to he could blast an explosion nearby to make the bar unstable and collapse as he jumped to the next building. He might not end up on the rooftop, but hey at least he'd be in a building. He heard just a slight scraping sound from down it and began to fire rapidly into the doorway before holstering his weapons and snapping his fingers to cause an explosion in the middle of the rooftop, right in front of him and the door. He used that opportunity to jump off the rooftop into the fire escape and threw himself through the glass of a window and pulled his pistols back out to prepare to shoot at xan if he decided to follow. If not he was prepared to shoot at the entrance of the pub if the drachman exited.

Xanthus felt an the entirety of the staircase shake as though a small earthquake had occurred while he was ascending the flights of stairs. What had he read in Dauthi’s file? Something about being able to produce explosions with his bare hands? Damn, that could become rather problematic. Deciding not to go directly to the roof, Xan created a door way to his left. It opened out into a room that seemed to be where the bar’s owner stayed. Not wanting to waste time admiring the modestly decorated room, Xan went to a nearby window and looked out.

He did not see much. That is, he did not see much more than two smashed windows, most likely one each for the Assassin and the Drachman. In fact, he knew that at least one of the windows had been used by Dauthi because he was still in the window, looking at the pub. Hmm…

With an evil smile, Xan backed away from the window and crouched down low to the ground. Dauthi and the Drachman would never know where exactly he was, so the advantage was temporarily with him.

Feeling safe and hidden, Xan closed his eyes and began to think about his next move…

Murazar climbed out of the window, he looked around. Xanthus hadn't left the bar yet, and... Oh so thats the building the drachman was in. He decided to climb down the fire escape and as soon as his feet touched the ground holstered his weapons before going over to the bar and throwing ignition powder up in the air he began to blast and explode with every palm pointed at somewhere and snap of the fingers. The front bar was being demolished as fast as humanely possible.

He expected Xanthus to either attack, or to not attack. Despite either he stopped before sprinting over to the apartment complex building and hitting the button for the elevator to come down. He was going up, and he was going to disable the only other elevator before going up to the fifth floor out of eight, which was where the drachman was. He made sure after all to count that many windows high and across to figure out which room even though he doubted he'd remain in there.

Just as soon as he entered the elevator and climbed to the top and used a small wind blast to destroy the other cables before proceeding up he heard police vehicles. A lot of them, enough to show that an entire precint was sent including a swat team being deployed. As soon as the doors to the elevator opened he saw the Drachman, he pulled out a pistol and took a few potshots at him as he took cover against the left wall. He was happy they were silenced, the cops wouldn't hear the muted shots over their own movement and sirens.