Thanks for sticking with me and everything. Enjoy and critique is always welcomed.
[Chapter Three]
AngrY
Her home, the Alucard Manor left Edward, well speechless, to say the least. He didn't know if it was the bleakness it brings in him or if it had anything to do with the tombstone in the corner of his peripheral vision as Symphonique unlocked the front door. He tried to read the name on it, assuming that maybe it was for a family pet or something of the sort but it was too tarnished to make heads or tails of what was written. Facing the front door, she smirked, she could already feel the questions radiating off of him, well, he's a curious kitten. She replaced her smirk with a smile, "Thanks Edward," she said as she turned to face him, her voice breaking his concentration. He smiled at her, "Oh yeah, no problem, had to make sure you get home safe, so just make sure you take care of that hand." Symphonique smirked, wanting to comment on his statement but deciding not to as she watched him fidget and swarm under her stares. She found it entertaining. There was a window of uneasy silence before she spoke again. "It is for my mother, kind of a reminder I suppose," she said softly, "if you were wondering that is." He raised an eyebrow; she turned to stare at the tombstone and his eyes followed. "The stone over there," she started, "it's for my mother. She passed away a couple of years back. I guess she was ill." Symphonique's mother's death reminded him of his own, how he slowly watched his mother wither away waiting for the man that never returned, but the way she had presented the information was off. People don't guess when someone dies from an illness, it's either they were sick and died because of it or they weren't sick and died by other means. "With what, if you don't mind me asking," the suspicious in his voice came through, he glanced over, Symphonique now in his peripheral. Her eyes darted from the grave to look at him; he shuddered at the sudden cold slate of sadness and the fire of hate burning in her eyes.
"Edward? Symphi?" The two teens turned towards the street and saw Second Lieutenant Maria Ross coming up the walkway, a curious look in her eyes, Ed's eyes mimicked the curious nature, Symphonique did not. "Maria!" she literally shouted before she ran towards the black-haired officer; the look in her eyes drastically changing. Ed couldn't help but question if maybe she was a little bipolar. One second her eyes burned with hate, motive, reason, the next second, as soon as Lieutenant Ross arrives, her eyes brighten to an extent that he remembers having when he saw his mother. She hugged Maria tightly, her face buried into the older woman's chest once again. "I'm so glad you came to see me again, I've missed you so much and don't say 'oh but Symphi it's only be a few days'," she mimicked as she released Ross and held her hand, swinging it to and fro like a kindergartener. "You're staying, right?" The eagerness in her eyes would have seemed childish to anyone who was outside of her small circle of loved ones. Maria sighed lightly and Symphonique's face fell at the sound, she stared to the ground solemnly, "You came for a quick visit didn't you, some militarist reason?" she questioned, her voice somber. "Don't be like that," Maria started as she used two of her fingers to tip Symphonique's chin up, "I have a job to do Symphi, I can't drop everything to play with you this time but I promise I will come back and play with you." A small smile crept onto her face, she remembers Maria saying that from years ago, when she had first joined the military. "Next time then?" Maria smiled and nodded, "Yes next time," she assured before pulling her into another hug. Deep down she knew that Maria couldn't stay again; it was rare if she ever stayed over for more than a day, even rarer if she slept over for both of those days. Symphonique pulled herself out the hug and titled her head to the side, "So what's the reason for coming here?" Maria pointed passed her and towards her doorway, where Ed had made himself comfy leaning against the house slightly squatting, drawing in the dirt with an abandoned stick. "Retrieval, people described you two running off together, so I figured you guys would end up coming here. Edward has somewhere to be soon." Symphonique nodded before she walked up to him and held out her hand, hinting at him to take it. He looked up at her from his position curiously, unable to come to a conclusion as to why, with the sun against her back, did her eyes shine? He placed his left hand in hers and allowed her to help him help, slowly lifted his slightly larger frame with a tugged, before the two walked over to Maria.
"I have completed the mission Lieutenant," she said with a mocked salute. Maria grinned and returned the salute in the same manner. "I'll be seeing you," Maria said as she turned towards the car, hinting for Ed to follow. "Bye-bye," Symphonique replied lightly, watching her walk away. She turned to Ed who was standing in front of her and smiled lightly, "Sorry if I got you trouble." Ed shrugged, "If it wasn't you then it would have been something else." "So I'll see you soon, right?" she questioned; Ed wondered why she sounded so hopeful but nonetheless, he smiled, just like she wanted. "You bet." Maria looked over her shoulder and she wanted to smile at this, she wanted to be glad the two of them had gotten to know each other somehow. She should be happy, Symphonique was finally making a friend, she wasn't going to be alone anymore…so why was there this disgusting feeling in her stomach at the sight?
"Don't you ever do anything like that again!" her mother screamed, tears running down her face as she held onto the child's shoulders so hard, the young girl could feel her fingernails digging into her skin. How could she raise a child so stupid, so reckless, what in the hell was this girl thinking, jumping into something like that, something she didn't understand, something that could have gotten her killed. Her grip tightened, small lines of blood coming under her cuticles.
"Okay Mama, okay," she wailed, "I said I was sorry," she cried, equal streams of tears running down her chubby baby fat cheeks. "You're sorry, you're sorry! That's all you have to say!? Do you know how much we've been suffering, just thinking about you being there!? Didn't you think about us at least once before you made such a horrible decision to go help those people!?" The youngling couldn't speak as her mother kept ranting about her selfishness. But wouldn't it have been selfish just to leave them behind? She believed she was doing the right thing when she left her family, why couldn't anyone see it her way? She saved lives, there weren't many and so much failure occurred in the time she spent there, but she saved at least a few of them, wasn't that worth celebrating, their life, her life?
"Go to your room Symphonique and never come out." The young girl glared, "Why can't you ever call me by my first name!?" The slap stung more than what she had been through the past couple of months; she pressed her hands against her burning cheek, staring up at her mother with fear. "Go to your damn room Symphonique."
Six other passing candidates walked alongside Symphonique as they came to the performance grounds, the location of the final part of the exam. She yawned, she didn't want to be tired today but apparently her dream, her memory, from the night was pitted against her. She had to try her best to focus today, everything had to be prefect. She sighed as a feeling, similar to how she felt around metal, washed over her, making a ghost smile pull at the corner of her lips. She was surprised with herself, she wasn't feeling how she expected to, considering she already knew that becoming a State Alchemist wouldn't be too hard for her, it was in her blood. She wasn't arrogant or prideful, she wasn't smug or vain, not to the extent she figured she would be. She was actually content in her matters at the moment and even the bothersome Mister Gentleman wasn't annoying her right now.
The small group lead by two prospectors soon stopped in the middle of the bare arena and the military personnel turned to the aspiring group and grinned almost maliciously, the male of the two was the first to speak. "Here you will demonstrate your abilities to us for final judgment, now," he paused as his eyes looked through the candidates, "who's first?" There wasn't much leeway time before Mister Gentleman stepped forward, confidence brimming in his stance and arrogance in his stride. The first to self-proclaim and choose is the first to look silly and lose, Symphonique thought to herself. The prospectors took a few steps back and motioned from him to proceed. He took his sweet time drawing a transmutation circle, Symphonique rolled her eyes at his gesture, his speed showed that he thought he was above everyone around him. He glanced back at her smugly before placing both palms down. Lights sparked around, slowly a figure began rising up from the ground and soon in front of them stood a smaller scale model of Central Command. At this Symphonique would have been impressed if she hadn't noticed the shotty detailing, rough texture, and its unbalanced stance — it leaned to the left. Amateur work, she thought and by the look in the prospectors' eyes they thought the same thing. "Next," the male prospector said, his voice unimpressed. Symphonique cut her eyes to Mister Gentleman and for a quick second, she felt bad for him, and then she didn't care anymore. In the end he was just a means for her to gather information from and he had none of that.
The second one to go was a bit more impressive but still useless to both the military and Symphonique. It soon was down to the remaining individuals, herself and another fellow probably in his twenties with this weird nervous twitch she counted as a condition. She allowed him to go before her, mentally saving the best for last, as he created a mass line of weapons, from nunchucks to swords, from staffs to knives to guns big and small. Overall, she was impressed but she couldn't shake this feeling of dread resting on her shoulders. It only intensified when he knelt down to the line of weaponry and starting shaking, muttering under his breath; Symphonique took heed to this, taking it as a warning, slowly began stepping back. Her eyes narrowed, something isn't right with him, that isn't some nervous twitch. He soon began laughing and picked up one of the lite machine guns, the military personnel pulled out their pistols in a heartbeat and Symphonique took this opportunity to separate herself from the group.
"Put down the weapon!" the officers commanded in unison; the potential candidate ignored the warning and soon they began to open fire. Symphonique and the others scattered, escaping the bullets that may have missed him. As she ran off to the side she counted the bullets. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, but no matter how many shots were taken, majority of them coming into contact with his body, he still stood there as if the bullets were droplets of rain softly falling from the sky. Once all twenty-four rounds were shot the candidate yawned, "You done yet?" he asked in a sarcastically bored fashion. She saw a look of fear in the prospectors' eyes and glared at them, thinking them as weak. "I am Marven De'Yago," the young man started, "and all of you," he opened his arms and looked around, "are my targets. And this," he pointed to the ground, "will be your gravesite. I shall kill you all!"
The shots ranged out so fast Symphonique barely had time to register where the bullets were headed. The two military personnel were shot, one in the shoulder, the other in the knee, and Mister Gentleman in his hip. Running, a heavy glare settled in her eyes as she realized the situation. He was not about to take this away from her. "You think you can stop me, my plans, my fucking goals," she hissed under her breath, "I despise you."
"You're nothing like me."
She skidded to a stop and watched as a candidate older and much more muscular than De'Yago tried to bash him aside the head with one of the created steel rod. Dodging slightly, De'Yago made it connect with his shoulder instead; the small flinch from the impact showed Symphonique that he wasn't invincible. Her annoyance at the whole situation flared as she slipped her hand into the pocket of her black cargo capris and prepared herself; sporting an intricately designed black fingerless glove. "Taking my time away," she slammed her palm to the ground and it erupted in miniature fissures, tossing De'Yago onto his back, he dropped his weapons. "You saunter your way in here," she hissed in a hushed tone, low to the ground as she ran towards him, her gloveless hand gathering dirt along the way, "and try to take this from me." Her eyes flared, a flash of red in her vision, "I'll destroy you!"
De'Yago stood, steadying himself as his eyes blazed in anger, turning, he eyed the youngest victim, not expecting to have his desire interrupted by someone like her. She was hurdling towards him with amazing speed, his paused in his actions, a quick look of panic crossing his face before he came to his senses. Swiftly, he reached for one of the pistols by his foot and pointed it at the blonde, he was not going to have her stop him. She wasn't going to let him stop her. He fired three shots consecutively, Symphonique slid as the sound of bullets slicing through the air assaulted her ears. She kicked him, successfully lowering his center of balance and smashed the dirt into his eyes. With him slightly disoriented she bounded upwards and glowered daggers at him. In his disorientation he heard one thing, "You will not stop me."
Blackness.
Symphonique stood above him, a burning resentment in her eyes, as she released the staff that was used to deliver a swift but painful strike on De'Yago's head. Seconds passed before Symphonique removed her glare from the unconscious man to her surroundings. She watched, with a low feral growl emitting, as the two militants and Mister Gentleman were begin treated by the medical staff, the others candidates being escorted and beckoned to the insides of the Eastern Command. Her blood boiled and she turned to the unconscious male once again. "You fucking waste of space!" she insulted through gritted teeth, "Do you have any idea how far you've set me back!? How much my goal is going to suffer because of your stupidity, I have to wait a whole another year!" She lifted her gloved hand, showing the unconscious man her middle finger in anger; she was so done. Roughly, Symphonique yanked off her glove and forcefully shoved it into her pocket, with a last look of hate, an exaggerated growl passed her lips before she turned on her heels, laced sandals kicking up clouds of dirt and dust, and headed towards the building. She did her best to ignore the tears of frustration and failure that blurred her vision, ignore the shake in her walk, the tremble of her hands. With the urge to rip someone's head off, destroy something, hurt something, anything, and the other urge trying to calm that side down, Symphonique pulled a hair tie out of her pocket and placed her hair into a high ponytail making sure that she left out a pieces to place behind her ear. She had to hide the small transmutation circle somehow.
She grinned as she stood in the room holding onto the certificate that was presented to her, it read:
This official document certifies that the nation of Amestris, prefecture of the Generalissimo appoints the name ENSCONCE ALCHEMIST to SYMPHONIQUE ALUCARD in the name of Fuhrer King Bradley.
The State Alchemist shall follow all orders and policies of the military.
A research assessment examination shall be held once every year. In the case that the State Alchemist does not show signs of progress as a result of the examination, he shall be discharged from the services of State Alchemist.
The State Alchemist is entitled to the use of ample research funds, unrestricted access to classified documentation, access to various governmental facilities, and a military rank equal to that of "Major".
She exited the large room, after a few congrats from people she didn't know, with certificate in hand and the watch attached to a belt loop and in her pocket. So maybe the whole incident wasn't such a horrible set back after all, but all this proved was that they saw something she displayed that she might not have wanted them to on. She ignored this though, exposure is good sometimes. She turned a couple of corners and made her way outside of the building feeling quite accomplished with herself, knowing her dad would be so proud of her if he could see her. Her dad was the main reason why she does just about everything alchemic. As she approached the exit of Eastern Command, her eyes landed on the laughing blonde Elric, along with the individual in the suit of armor, the odd calm came to her once again. He caught her stares as she came closer and smiled, her smile grew as she held up the piece of parchment, "Did it."
Thank you for reading and stay tuned!
And if you're following along episode wise, this is in the mid-point of the end of three and the start of four, which in that episode the Elrics meet Shou Tucker and Nina, so yeah...see you next time.