Hey, people. For all of you who live in New England, I didn't have cable until yesterday because of the snowstorm, and the rest of my town isn't supposed to have power until Sunday! Kami, this is why I'm glad I live on a main road. I only went without power for a day, and I have a wood stove so I don't have to worry about heat. Hope everybody else is doing okay! I'll let you get to the story now. Enjoy!
I walked down the street, breathing in the cool night air. The cold was calming and soothing after a hard day of work, plus it was good for thinking. I thought back to 8 years ago, when my brother and I left our home town for Central to become State Alchemists and gain back the bodies we had lost. I stared down at my gloved hands and listened to the heavy clanking of my brother's armor behind me and sighed. I was 19 years old today and I still hadn't fulfilled my promise to him. Sometimes I thought that I never would, that I'd just keep chasing some silly dream until I died. I looked back at my brother. Was it possible for him to die? His voice hadn't changed. Would he be stuck at 11 years old forever?
As Elysia's house came into view, I shook my head, trying to clear it of my thoughts. I couldn't show up at her house to celebrate her birthday looking depressed.
"Brother? Are you alright?" Al's voice came from behind me. The childish voice made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out every time I heard it. It reminded me of what a failure I was every day of my life. I plastered a smile on my face as I turned to nod at him
"I'm fine." I lied. I walked up the steps of the house of the Hughes and knocked on the door. It was opened a few seconds later by 8-year-old Elysia's smiling face.
"Hey, Uncle Ed, Uncle Al!" she exclaimed. Lately, though I had no idea why, she had taken to calling us both Uncle. She turned and called to her mother before turning back and beaming up at us. I reached out and ruffled her hair with my organic arm.
"Hey, kid. Happy birthday." I said, smiling back at her.
"Happy birthday, Uncle Ed!" She said. Gracia came up behind her, looking a little tired from what must have felt like a very long day.
"Oh, Edward, Alphonse, it's so nice of you to come by!" She said. "Why don't you come in and make yourself comfortable? I'll go make some tea." She smiled warmly at us. "And happy birthday, Edward." She added.
"Thanks, Gracia." I said as we stepped inside. Al kneeled down so he was almost eye level with Elysia.
"Here. For you." He said, handing her the parcel he had been carrying to her. Suddenly I remembered my own gift for her and mentally scolded myself for forgetting something so important as I reached into my pocket and pulled out a heart-shaped locket with pictures of her and her father on the inside. I remembered the conversation with Mustang when I first returned to Central from Dublith after Brigadier General Hughes's death.
"Here." Mustang had said, pulling something from his pocket and placing it on the coffee table with a soft clink that indicated metal. I sat in silence, my fists clenched, staring at the floor.
"Really, Ed, you should thank him when you get back."
Now I would never get the chance to, and it made me feel horrible. I didn't bother to look up at the table where the object was sitting. I was still trying to absorb this and didn't want to know what was up there.
"It was supposed to be an extra birthday present to Elysia, judging by the inscription on the back." This caught my attention. I finally looked up and saw that it was a locket. I picked it up with a shaking hand and read the inscription. 'Happy birthday to my sweet and wonderful daughter.'
"Why me?" I asked. The question was vague, but I was sure Mustang would understand what I was asking.
"You saw him, didn't you?" Mustang asked, dropping the sarcastic ego-maniac act as he turned to look at me. "I saw it in your eyes when I told you." I wondered how he could tell that that was what I was thinking about, but I didn't ask. "He didn't pick you to be the last person to see him for no reason, Edward. My best guess is this was why." With that, he turned and walked out of that room as I sat, staring at the last bit of evidence that a man called Maes Hughes walked the Earth.
I knelt down in front of Elysia as Al got up. I put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Elysia, I have something very important to give you." I fastened the locket around her neck. The chain was very long on her, hanging down to just below her chest. She looked at me quizzically before holding it up and reading the inscription out loud.
"Happy birthday to my sweet and wonderful daughter." She read slowly. Her mother gasped behind me. Elysia stared at it for a minute before it dawned on her. "Daddy." She said. Elysia looked up at me, tears brimming in her eyes. She pulled me into a fierce hug before sprinting of. When I stood, there were also tears in the eyes of Gracia.
"Oh, Ed." She breathed. "Where did you ever get something like that?"
"Mustang gave it to me. He wanted me to give it to Elysia, seeing as that's probably what Lieutenant – I mean, Brigadier General Hughes was going to do with it." I explained.
"But… oh, but I thought he had already given her his present." She said, flustered. She sat down hard on the couch. I sat on the couch across from her.
"I'm sorry I didn't give it to her earlier. I guess I thought… well, I thought maybe she needed a little time. You both did. And she was so young, too young to understand that he was gone and—"
"I understand, Ed." She interrupted. She got up and hugged me. "You did the right thing." She whispered before walking off, probably to go find Elysia.
"Brother." Al said from behind me. "You had it all this time? You never told me about it." Al's voice sounded slightly hurt. I looked down, embarrassed.
"Yeah, well, I guess I just didn't really know what to say." I looked back up after a long moment. Al looked at me for a second and then nodded just as Elysia and her mother re-entered the room. Elysia thrust a thick, rectangular package wrapped in brown paper into my hand.
"Here, Uncle Ed." She said, beaming up at me. Her necklace had been fixed so it didn't fall down so far and now came down to the base of her neck. "This is your birthday present." I took it from her, smiling, and tore off the paper. My eyes went wide when I saw what was inside: a thick research manual that compiled all the notes I had about it, plus other books about the Philosopher's Stone that had been lost in the fire at Central years ago, painstakingly recopied into this book. I thumbed through the book and found a section about theoretical alternate ways of making a Philosopher's Stone. Al peered over my shoulder and gasped.
"Brother, is that…?" Al asked, his voice trailing off.
"Yeah." I said, almost not able to believe it. I looked up and stared incredulously at Mrs. Hughes and Elysia. "But… how did you… where did you get…?" I tried to ask, but I was at a loss for words. Elysia giggled.
"We found it with Daddy's stuff." Elysia said excitedly.
"Yes." Her mother interrupted. "It was in a desk drawer. I had neglected cleaning it out for years, afraid that going near it would only pull me into a depression. Look on the inside cover." I opened it and was shocked to see the words 'For Edward and Alphonse' written there in Hughes's scrawled, messy handwriting.
"How… how did he know? Did Mustang tell him?" I asked still not absorbing it. I didn't remember ever telling Hughes about the search for the Philosopher's Stone, though I doubted that even if I had, he would have known what I was talking about, seeing as he wasn't an alchemist. She didn't answer me, probably because she didn't know herself, I thought. Instead she disappeared and reappeared a few seconds later with tea. She put the cups down in front of us, signaling the end of the conversation. Reluctantly, I put the book down next to me and joined them in conversation. Elysia finished her tea quickly and dragged Al of to play with her. He didn't offer much resistance, leaving me and Mrs. Hughes alone.
"Edward." She said after a few minutes, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Tell me – why does Al never remove his armor?" I was at a loss for what to say, but before I could even try to respond, she answered my question for me. "It's because he can't, can he?" I set my cup down on the table and nodded grimly. "How?" she asked, worry mixed with curiosity showing on her face. I hesitated before giving her a brief explanation: I told her that when we were young, we didn't know how dangerous using alchemy could be, and my arm and leg and his body were taken in Equivalent Exchange and that the Philosopher's Stone was the only thing capable of getting our bodies back. It was basically the truth – we knew that human transmutations were very difficult and dangerous, we just didn't know how difficult and dangerous. If we had been old enough to really understand, maybe we wouldn't have done it. I doubted it, though. And the Philosopher's Stone did seem to be the only hope we had.
"I see." She said, and swiftly changed the subject after seeing how depressed the whole thing made me. Before I knew it, it was late and I heard Al's heavy footsteps walking down the hall. "Is she asleep?" Mrs. Hughes asked when he came into view. Al nodded. I stood up and walked over to stand next to all. "I think I'll go say goodnight before we leave." I said before starting down the hall towards her room.
When I entered her bedroom, she was fast asleep, her face peaceful and happy. I kneeled down next to her and stroked her hair absent-mindedly while I thought about her father. Had it really been like Mustang said? The only reason he appeared in front of me, waving as the train passed by, was because he wanted me to be the one who gave her the necklace? I thought about the engraving, too; Happy birthday to my sweet and wonderful daughter. And then it dawned on me.
Hughes didn't want me to just give her a necklace. He wanted me to protect her, to become almost a father figure in her life, to take his place.
I looked down at the little girl and saw, for the first time, how much she really did look like him. He's entrusted the most valuable thing in his life to me. I realized.
His daughter.