So this is just a oneshot I wrote of Maya in Ishval. I thought about adding this to my series of oneshots that I'm calling 'Tales of Ishval.' But this one doesn't really take place in Ishval… You'll see what I mean. Hope you guys enjoy this little oneshot.
I ran from the bombs, the gunfire, the smell of decaying flesh. I ran the only way I knew how to run… on the roof tops. No one ever saw me, neither Amestrians nor Ishvalans. The only other people who knew this tactics were the ones who taught it to me. And they were safe the capitol of Amestris, Central, and well away from this Hell.
I stopped atop a giant building to catch my breath and stare out into the battlefield. All around me, the smell of metallic blood resonated. This desert sand absorbed all the bloodshed like a sponge. Ancient buildings were crumbling all around me. To my left, I saw at least twenty Ishvalans, shot execution-style, where they stood. I watched, not carelessly, as they bled their lives away, glaring at their killers and refusing to give them the satisfaction of their defeat. To my right, the State Alchemists were hard at work, the most flamboyant among them the Flame Alchemist. I'd never seen him, only heard his bombs and known of his reputation. It was evident he was getting closer. I had to leave soon before this building met its fiery demise as well.
"Turn around, you dog," I heard the gruff and familiar voice of a female Ishvalan. I turned slowly, hoping like crazy that it wasn't her. Of course it was… We shared a look of shock. Her bright red eyes widened, as did my rusty red ones. Her snow white hair was pulled out of its tight ponytail and now wrapped around her entire torso. Her brown face was smudged with ash and dirt. Her clothes seemed like nothing more than rags. She held a pistol, pointed right at me.
"Rita?" I asked, my heart pounding violently inside of my chest.
"Maya?" she lowered her gun slightly.
"Rita, it's so good to see you!" I threw my arms around her, happy to feel her familiar embrace. "But what are you doing here? I thought you were in Central!" I pulled back, gazing into her ruby eyes that now held years of hurt and pain, more so than anyone her age should have.
"I was," she responded. "But my people need me. You know I never turn my back on someone who needs me," her voice was firm. We covered our faces as debris from a closer bomb flew towards us. The cry over the dead and the dying was overwhelming. It was so painful, I was tempted to claw my ears out. "Why are you doing this?" Rita's voice was filled with desperation and more sorrow than I knew she could possess.
"We're following orders," I said, not even attempting to hide the simplicity of the truth.
"No," she said. "Why are you doing this?" she emphasized that she was asking me personally.
I looked to the bright blue sky, hoping to find the answer I needed written somewhere in the clouds. Alas, I found nothing but an open sky with a scorching desert sun. There was no secret to that sky. I took a deep breath, still gazing upward as I replied, "Be thou for the people. That's supposed to be the code we State Alchemists live by," I began. "But that's not it at all. That's the biggest lie I've ever been told. We're weapons for the military. We're used at their disposal. We follow whatever order is given, no matter how gruesome."
"Is that the kind of person I helped you become? An obedient lapdog?"
"Rita, we were living in poverty, stealing all of our meals," I tried to reason with her. "I thought you and Peter could have a better life if I made some money," I explained. "Besides, they promised I'd have a noble and honorable reputation. I didn't want to be a street rat forever," I forced my look downward, back into those ruby eyes. "I didn't sign up for this. None of us did."
"So run," she suggested.
"That's not who I am," I defied.
"You were never afraid to run before," she commented.
"I didn't want to face the consequences then," I explained. "But everything I've done here is already a consequence in itself. Running away won't undo what I've done. The most I can do now is defend my comrades so they don't have to do all this," I said.
"What about me?" she demanded.
"I have no intention of killing you. However, if one of my comrades finds you, I can't help you."
"You would watch me die!" she demanded, outraged.
"No, I-!"
"That's what you just said! I can't believe you, you of all people, are helping the monsters that murdered Peter!" she screamed in pure rage. My heart began to race, pounding like a drum inside my ears.
"Peter is… dead?"
"They told me he was killed by the Lightning Alchemist."
My eyes widened in horror as realization struck me. I flashed back to the hundreds I'd killed all at once, not bothering to look at any of them, looking down on them as though they were dogs, less than human. It would've been easy for me to ignorantly kill someone I cared about. I clutched my chest as my heart pounded violently. It didn't take much to send me to my knees, gasping for breath. "I can't wait to kill this comrade of yours. I'm going to make sure he feels the pain of a thousand deaths before I let him die!"
"Rita," I didn't know what enticed me to do this. This would label my fate, guarantee my death. I felt tears sting the corner of my eyes as I looked the Ishvalan woman in the eyes. Our gaze locked on one another's as I took a deep breath. "I'm… the Lightning Alchemist."
We stared at each other for a moment.
Then it happened.
She went for the gun, pulling the trigger. In the same instant, I rolled away, ripping off a white glove to expose lightning transmutation circles tattooed into my palm. Before I could place my hand on the ground, she shot at me again. I wasn't called the Lightning Alchemist just for my alchemic ability. I had lightning fast reflexes.
Without thinking, I placed my hand on the building below us, sending the bolt of lightning through it. The strike of blue lightning came from below her, piercing her whole body within the second. She didn't even have time to scream before she dropped dead. I walked up to her body, slowly. I had sent so much electricity through her body, blood ran out of her eyes and mouth profusely.
"Lightning, get out of the way!" I heard the deep voice of the Iron Blood Alchemist call. I looked down at him before feeling the building beneath me quake. Within the second, I was surrounded by flames.
"Maya!" I heard a voice call from beyond the inferno. "Maya! Maya!"
"Maya!" I felt something dropped on my head.
"Owwww!" I grumbled as I was rudely awoken from my slumber.
"You didn't have to wake her up," I heard a familiar voice say. It was familiar, but not someone I heard every day. I looked up to see my brown haired lieutenant, James Pierce, talking to the familiar man.
"It's no problem. Colonel Malone has some paperwork," Pierce grinned at me, pointing to the pile of papers that had grown ten times its size since I had fallen asleep. I looked to the man next to him. He was in the blue uniform of the state military. His dark hair was slicked back, save for two strands that fell into his face. His bronze eyes were covered by a pair of rectangular glasses. Realization hit me. "Maes Hughes! Is that really you?" I asked.
"Who else would it be?" he grinned.
"Hot dog!" I jumped up from my desk and threw my arms around him. "How've you been?"
"Great! It's been so long since we've seen each other! Did you know Gracia and I got married? And that we have a little girl? Her name is Elysia and she's absolutely the cutest little angel anyone could ask for! I know you're dying to see a picture so here you go!" he got out a picture from his breast pocket and shoved it at me. I smiled and looked at it. The little girl was on a tricycle and looked exactly like her mother.
"She's beautiful, Hughes," I returned to the picture to the proud father. I looked at my blue eyed lieutenant. "Pierce, could you leave us alone for a few minutes?" Pierce raised a brow in skepticism. "No, it's nothing like that. I promise," I said. Reluctantly, the brown haired man turned and left. "Thanks for transferring him to my team," I said to Hughes subtly. "Awful nice of you to give me one of your best investigators. What's he got on me?"
"Sometimes I think you're the one that belongs in the investigations department," Hughes smirked in his all-knowing way.
"Why are you really here? I'm sure it's not just to see my radiant face."
"Well Colonel," he emphasized my rank. "This is now the temporary Central Command. Everyone wanted to transfer here."
"Why? What's wrong with Central?"
"The Alchemist Killer has made quite a few enemies there," he explained.
Thunder rolled and lightning flashed as silence reigned for a moment. I rolled my chair around to stare at the falling rain. "Hughes," I said, not taking my gaze from the rain. "You never told me what Pierce has on me. Why is he spying on me?"
"I was worried about you," he replied simply.
I let out a laugh. "Worried about what? That I'd try to crack the code of human transmutation? That I'd almost kill myself trying again?" I asked.
"Yes," he smirked.
"Well you're right to have thought so. I probably would try again. But there's a difference between now and back then."
"Oh?" he enticed me to go on.
"Now I have a team and people that depend on my leadership… including Lieutenant Pierce. I can't let any of them down. I'm going to keep living so I can keep them alive to make their dreams succeed. And to see Colonel Mustang's dream succeed."
"What about your dreams?" he asked.
"My dreams?" I scoffed. "My dream is to undo everything I've done in Ishval."
"Ishval? Maya," his voice was firm, yet soft at the same time. "The nightmare is over."
"No," I shook my head and continued to stare at the pouring rain. "It's never over."
See what I mean by it's not really in Ishval? I hope you guys enjoyed it and that this gave a little bit of insight to Maya and her point of view for those of you that have been reading my other story, Paint the Snow Crimson. Like I said earlier, another story is on the way. It'll show how Maya has become the way she is and a lot of her history. Hope you guys stick around to see!