So this was written as a gift fic for Holioc on Tumblr for a secret Santa Exchange. I had meant it to be much different at first but changed it gradually as I went on in the past month. I will admit that the entire thing is rather canon divergent (for the obvious reasons). On Tumblr it will appear as two parts but on I expect it to come in a few chapters so its much more of a short story.
Hope you all like it!
It was strange how much could change in such a little amount of time. Not even gone for more than a year and the entire state of Amestris had become so much different than Catherine Armstrong could remember. Though its mountains and cities remained physically the same, with the expectation of a few still destroyed buildings in Central City, the entire atmosphere of the area had been completely warped.
Though, she had to admit, warped in a rather good way. For even though so many had perished in the pursuit that occurred little over a few months ago, her family seemed a lot more connected. Her brother stood a little bit taller, her eldest sister a little bit happier. It was certainly a wonderful welcome back gift!
Though she had to admit that there was one thing off about coming home that frustrated the youngest Armstrong. She hadn't even realized it until now, the second day after returning, that there was something wrong with her family garden.
If home had sustained any damage during the battle, Catherine wouldn't have been able to tell. It, like most of the city, looked good as new. So with that said, she couldn't fathom why some of her favorite flowers laid dead and pulled apart.
In a little shaded pocket, off in the far corner of the estate, resided the remains of a collection of anenomes, begonias, and marigolds. The clash of purples, yellows, and pinks once had the staff consider getting rid of the entire plot and replacing them with more cherry blossoms. Had it not been for Catherine herself, those poor flowers would have died an earlier death.
It was now, as she kneeled down to inspect the flattened stalks and chewed petals that she realized that these flowers had only recently ended up this way. Furthermore, given the state of those already effected, something living had caused it.
The little blonde thought nothing of the dirt that seeped into the white lace of her blue summer dress. Her hands felt chalky as dirt began to seep into her gardening gloves, she raked through the ground searching for some sort of clue, maybe even a few snails or bugs. Occasionally she would shift up rocks and a few torn petals.
"Miss Catherine?!" She flinched at the sound of her name being called from across the garden. It was obviously one of the servants, one that she had nearly forgotten existed since her visit to Xing. Having been out on the grounds for what felt like only a few moments, she concluded that someone in her family was looking for her as well.
Rather than scream back her location, Catherine raised her left hand up in the air. The other one continued about its task of combing the dirt. Though it became apparent, as she yanked up another set of twigs and plant parts, that this was a mystery better left answered by the people her father paid to tend the garden in the first place.
Her pale, pink lips dropped at the realization while the right arm went limp in the ground. "They were such pretty flowers too."
A rustle of the leaves in front of her was followed quickly by what sounded strangely like a quiet snicker. Her head bobbed up immediately, her eyes trying to land on a person. She was at the tail end of the manor, close to someone else's property, surely someone from another area had made such a rude sound. No one who worked for the Armstrong's would have done it. Yet beyond the gate line was no one, not even a sign that someone had even been there recently. Nothing laid before her.
Expect for a peculiar little lizard. One that was barely held up by the flower it was standing on. She almost went a little cross-eyed staring at its strange form. With two eyes close to the center like a flounder, and a mouth that ran vertical rather than horizontal, it was quite the little freak of nature.
Mesmerized, Catherine could only stare as the lizards sat unmoving, almost petrified by her. Slowly the hand that had been in the dirt raised itself up and prodded the little guy with a simple poke of her index finger.
It screamed. Or rather hissed in a non-menacing way (though it seemed like it tried to). Stumbling backwards from her knees and plopping down on to her bottom, Catherine could only gasp at it. Looking up towards the lizard, she began to notice just how oddly shaped it was, with several more arms then it should have.
After taking a few breaths, and observing a lack of movement from the creature, she sat back up onto her knees. While it made quite a sound, it was still a small animal. Nothing that an Armstrong should fear.
"What a strange little creature," she mused. "I wonder if one of the servants would know what you are." If animals could look peeved off, this one certainly did. Tapping her chin, the little blonde began to wonder further. "Or maybe Alex might know."
The flower underneath the lizard shook along with its movements. Without even making another sound, the creature jumped off from its pedestal and into the mix of chewed flowers. Catherine could have sworn that its already bulging eyes had widened by her last response.
On instinct her hands reached forward onto the ground in front of her. They clasped themselves together by the tips, effectively ensnaring the lizard's tail against her palms. She could see the top of its head through her hand. She noted how the creature's teeth looked even sharper now that it was snarling at her.
She dropped it quickly before it could sink its teeth into her gloves. Landing on the ground with a light thump, the creature looked rather dazed and confused from the impact. Using the moment to her advantage, Catherine scanned the area for something to capture the strange little lizard in. One hand moved to comb through her hair before noticing the white sun hat on top of her head.
"Ah-hah!" Before the creature could stand back up onto its legs, she grabbed it up by its tail. The hat on her head was taken off with a swoosh as the cap now faced downwards. The lizard was let go once again but this time it fell into the crevice of the hat. Both of her hands pinched the sides of it together as to not let the creature crawl out.
The hat bobbled in ever which direction as the creature desperately tried to fight its way out. For a moment the young Armstrong felt rather bad for the little lizard. Taking the poor thing away from his home and a possible family seemed rather cruel. Besides, what had the tiny thing ever done to her?
. . .
One of the maids found her as she was walking down the pathway back to the manor. Dirt lined the bottom of her dress, only a small attempt was made to pat it off. It appeared, as she came closer, that the white hat clenched in her hand was moving in a strange way. The servant curtly bowed at the youngest Armstrong once she was in close proximity.
"Miss Armstrong, your mother wished for me to inform you that your eldest sister will be returning back to North earlier than expected." At the end of her sentence, the young woman rose to look her masters' daughter in the eyes. To Catherine she wasn't much different than the others who worked here. With short brunette hair, falling slightly curled by her shoulders, the only noticeable thing about her was the piercing blue eyes.
She blinked and pushed the hat in her hands further behind her. "Really? How much earlier?"
"Today, I'm afraid, there seems to be some pressing matters to attend." The maid kept a rather neutral tone, one lined with a pleasant air. "Both your parents are speaking to her right now, actually. I'm sorry to say that she doesn't plan to stay long after that."
Catherine swayed on her heels for a moment and felt the little creature jingle around. As much as she loved her family, it wasn't as if Olivier lived with them (or even visited them that much). Her sisters leaving didn't necessarily stir any large feelings, only indifference. If anything, this was only another step towards normality. Back to a time before the Promised day.
"Does Alex know then?"
Nodding, the woman couldn't help but stare towards the hat poking out from behind her. "I believe he already spoke to her back at Central command." There was a pause. "If you go now, you can say goodbye."
"I would but," part of her wanted to say that it wouldn't matter to her eldest sister if she did say goodbye, it wasn't as if Olivier particularly had a large interest in her. A bump against the small of her back reminded her of her current predicament. "I wanted to see if anyone knew anything about lizards in this area?"
The maid took a step back, her eyes narrowing in confusion at the youngest Armstrong for only a moment before regaining her composure. "Lizards? Why do you want to know about lizards?"
The youngest Armstrongs' cheeks reddened, embarrassed by the strangeness of her question. "Well you see I wanted to know specifically about this type of lizard." Pushing her hands forwards, Catherine released her grasp on the hat slightly, allowing the maid to gaze down at the little creature angrily moving about the bottom.
Once the maid got a good look, as evident by the way she took a step back, the little opening was once again closed. "I've never seen an animal like that before."
"Do you think anyone around here might know about it?"
"Maybe one of the gardeners has seen it before but . . ." Her eyes remained on the white hat, unable to look Catherine in the eye. "In all honesty, Miss Armstrong, that thing looks more like its defected then a new species."
The fighting within the hat stopped quite suddenly, the only movement the blonde felt was that of the little thing slumping down its prison walls and into the very bottom. "What do you mean?" She asked innocently.
"I mean that it might have been born wrong, with so many legs and the length of its mouth . . . it just doesn't seem to belong to any normal species of lizard."
"Oh the poor thing!" Her blue eyes welled up a bit as panic spread across the face of her servant.
"I-I'm sure it's okay ma'am, if it's lived this long then surely its defects aren't causing it any pain."
Wiping her eyes of any glossiness, her lips continued to drop downwards. "It must be lonely though, to be so different from everyone else."
The servant really didn't know what to say to her, it would like awfully bad if she had upset the youngest of the family. "Out of curiosity, did you catch it in an attempt to keep it?"
She could feel the little creature moving about once again, frantically biting against the fibers. "Well no, not at first . . ."
An uncomfortable silence passed between them as most of Catherine's attention went to her captive. "I believe your sister Amue's pet's snakes' tank is still in the basement." She coughed, "if you wanted to keep it in your room."
She didn't say anything in that moment. One hand went to comb gently through her hair, the other keeping a firm lock on her hat, as she contemplated keeping the little thing. Though it wouldn't be her first pet, it would certainly be one of her smallest. Most of the animals she kept tended to range from horses to cats, nothing that required a tank to keep them in.
"Do you think it would be okay like that?"
The servant smiled brightly at her, "Of course it will!" Without even noticing it, the hat in Catherine's hands was passed into that of the maids. "In fact, I'm sure you'll give it a better home then anything it's ever had."
