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Disclaimer: FMA belongs to Hiromu Arakawa


Recap: Claire successfully managed to get into the church and got to know Roze. Roze took her to see one of Cornello's miracles, and Claire saw that it was being done with something that seemed like the Philosopher's Stone. Just as she was contacting Mustang, someone spoke from behind her. Claire flipped around to see who it was...


Chapter 3 ~ Further Investigations

Yven stood in front of her, wearing a cocky smirk. His previous atmosphere of a pleasant, entirely normal guy was dispelled.

"Just my friend," Claire answered, unable to come up with something that made more sense. She attempted to look as calm as possible as she hung up the phone, despite the protesting Mustang on the other end. The reality being that she was pretty sure she was caught red-handed, but it didn't hurt to try to act innocent before condemning herself.

"Really now?" Yven asked, his benign demeanor somewhat returning, but he still seemed threatening. Claire could see already though that Yven was most likely anything but "benign". Guys like him tended to be the most slippery sort of all.

"Haha," she laughed. "Yup! I was telling him all about Cornello-sama's miracles!"

"Funny," Yven said. "That's not the impression I got."

"Eh?" Claire asked innocently, even though she knew she was getting backed further into a corner. "I'm sorry I gave you the wrong impression then."

A rather malicious look appeared in Yven's eyes. "Nah, I'm quite sure I got the right impression, Girlie."

"Well then what might that 'right impression' be?" Claire inquired nervously.

"I was of the impression that Lil' Miss Girlie here was reporting to the military about the Head Priest's Philosopher's Stone."

Claire sighed in resignation. And she had gone through all that trouble when talking to Mustang to make it not obvious what she was trying to tell him, but this weirdo found out anyways. …How though?

But the good thing was that if he was going to attack or arrest her, he already would have done it… which meant that he wanted something.

"Whoops, I got found out," Claire said. "…So what do I have to do to make you keep your mouth shut?"

"Smart Girlie, aren't you?" Yven asked. "How 'bout some cash?"

Claire glared at the man in front of her. She hated situations like this; they were always trouble. She should have watched this man more closely. At least it would be easy to shut him up though. A greedy man like this was easy to deal with.

"100,000 cenz should do it," Yven cooed.

…Or not. This greedy man was being overly greedy, and that made him a pain.

Grrr. Why'd she have to go and get herself caught? And by this corrupt exploiter no less? Stupid, stupid, stupid Claire. Grrr. That was a hell of a lot of money! And there was no way that Colonel Mustang was going to help her pay it since he was going to blame her for the fact that she had been discovered. So it was going to be coming out of her salary. Grrr.

But she couldn't have him going around telling everyone she was a spy for the military though.

"Alright then," Claire agreed, not having any other choice. "You'll keep quiet then I take it?"

"Of course," Yven said.

Claire clapped her hands together, thinking the deal was sealed. "Grea—"

"Not." A creepy smile once twisted its way onto Yven's lips as he shrugged. "I have no interest in money, Girlie."


Oh God.

Even the day after her oh-so-wonderful run-in with Yven, Claire felt like pulling her hair out. That guy was so aggravating. How dare he toy with her like that. Claire took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, but she was still ranting about Yven in her head. After he made a total fool out of her, he proceeded to make an even bigger fool out of her. In her anger, she lost her head a bit and tried to slug him, which he dodged like it was a piece of cake. Grrrr.

Okay, Claire. Take deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep breaths.

She continued to think of how she would get back at him for that later.

breaths.

And she hadn't even managed to come up with a way to make him keep his mouth shut.

Frankly, she just wanted to bang her head against a wall, except that wouldn't help her any and it would just give her a headache.

So she decided against that option.

Well, on the bright side of things, she hadn't seen Yven yet today. So maybe, Claire thought hopefully, he fell off a cliff or something. Sadly, she also knew it probably wasn't so.

Not in the least succeeding with calming herself down, Claire ate a lollipop while Roze ran around the market buying stuff. It seemed you could buy everything here – flowers, threads, pottery, wood… Claire found that there were even certain foods she couldn't identify, despite all the books she'd read on Liorian culture before coming here. The townspeople knew all the vendors, and many of the vendors were conversing with the townspeople as they sold their goods. Sometimes, children would run by and wave at them. In Roze's case, she didn't just know one or two vendors, she knew all of them. Each and every one of them seemed glad to see her and they all greeted her warmly as she bought her goods.

"Claire, are you alright?" Roze eventually asked. "You look really…"

Claire realized that she probably looked like she wanted to kill something. Well, that certainly wouldn't do. A good follower of Leto wouldn't get angry about things. Rather, she'd believe it was a challenge sent to them by Leto.

"Haha, sorry," Claire laughed. "Just thinking 'bout something."

Roze blinked. "If you say so," she said, and then she was quiet. She looked as if she was thinking about something – something important, at least to her. Although people were still greeting her, she seemed more lost in thought when she talked to them.

Claire wondered what Roze was thinking about. If that something was important to Roze, maybe it was important to her somehow as well. And if it wasn't… well it was still a mystery! Claire thought excitedly.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Claire asked curiously.

"Oh um…" Roze answered nervously. "Nothing really."

Claire pouted that Roze hadn't answered her question. She would have to wait till later to ask again; if she pried too much at once, it could have negative effects.

As such, Claire decided to think about the other mysteries she had yet to solve. She'd gathered a decent amount of information over the past few days, but she only really had the big picture. She didn't really need to tell Mustang any more than the big picture, but there was still one important thing she was missing:

The Head Priest's motive. Why was he doing what he was doing?

Other than that, there were several little details she didn't know:

1. How did the Head Priest get a hold of the Philosopher's Stone?

2. Who was Yven?

3. What was he up to? Was he in league with the Head Priest?

Come to think of it, if Yven knew what she was up to, then it was dangerous for her to try and contact Mustang again. The pros of that were that she wouldn't have to listen to Mustang's sarcasm and that she would have plenty of time to solve all of Liore's mysteries. The cons were that she would have no idea when (or if) Mustang wanted her to pull out and she was completely on her own, at least until Mustang sent someone else in.

Which, she assumed, he would, if he received no further contact since he had probably heard Yven speak in the background and her hurriedly hang up. He was smart enough to figure out that she was in trouble, so she wasn't going to worry too much.

"Good afternoon, Roze," an elderly woman greeted as Claire and Roze approached her shop. "I haven't seen you around for awhile. How have you been?"

"I've been well, thanks," Roze answered. "And you?"

"Simply dandy!" Agatha-san laughed heartily, hands on her hips and everything. Claire was taken aback for a second; she hadn't quite expected that reaction. Roze, on the other hand, looked like she was quite used to it.

"That's nice to hear," Roze said.

"Who's this other young one here?" Agatha-san asked merrily, gesturing towards Claire, who was currently processing Agatha-san's personality. At first sight, she had looked like one of those super-polite, well-spoken elders, but that clearly wasn't so. Claire noted to herself that she needed to stop automatically judging by appearance. Mistakes like that could be fatal, especially with guys like Yven running around.

"Ah, she's…" Roze began.

"I'm Claire!" Claire answered, deciding that she wasn't going to let Roze do all the talking. In most cases, the friendlier you were, the more people would open up to you, and as someone looking for information, that's exactly what she wanted. "Nice to meet you."

"Hohohoho," the woman laughed again. "A perky one, arent'cha? Nice to meet you, too!"

"Yup!" Claire said jovially and then looked at the contents of Agatha-san's vending bin. Roze had already been examining them to find the ripest, reddest apples. "So you sell apples?"

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away," the old woman said, cocking a crooked smile with lots of missing teeth. "But I was an adamant beauty when I was young, convinced that some wicked witch would trick me into eating a poisoned apple. So now I am the witch herself! Bwahahahaha!"

"Does that mean all of your apples are poisoned then?" Claire asked teasingly. She knew that if they really were poisoned, the Agatha-san certainly wouldn't have any customers. Besides, Roze seemed to know her pretty well.

"You never know, little girl," the woman teased right back. "Perhaps they are."

"Ehh?" Claire said, feigning a mixture of fear and surprise. "Roze, the apples are dangerous! We can't buy any!"

"Huh?" Roze asked. Evidently, she hadn't heard any of Claire and Agatha-san's conversation so far. Claire sighed.

"Haha," Agatha-san said. "We're just playing with ya, Roze."

"Oh," Roze said, grabbing another apple from the bin. "Um…Okay. How much for these apples?"

"I'll give ya a discount," Agatha-san said. "You should come by more often."

"Really? Thank you!" Roze exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together.

"Haha, no problem. Five hundred cenz should do it for the whole bag."

"Okay," Roze agreed, pulling some money out of her pocket.

Just then, a bald man with a mustache called out, "Ah, Roze! Come here for a sec!"

"Alright!" Roze said, and then handed the money to Claire. "Hold on a sec, Agatha-san. Claire, can you pay for me?"

"Eh?" Claire asked, surprised. "Yeah, sure," she said, but by then Roze had already dashed off to help the man.

"Whew, that girl always has someone to talk to," Agatha-san said. "Friendly youngster, she is."

"Well, she is really nice after all," Claire said, deciding to take this moment to find out more about Roze as she counted out the money to pay Agatha-san. One of the best ways to get into a conversation with someone: compliments.

"Indeed. She has already befriended you, and you're a new face around here, are ya not?"

"You could tell?"

"Bwahahaha! Of course. Everyone knows everyone around here."

"True," Claire stated. "By the way, when did Cornello-sama first arrive here?"

"Hoho, just about a year ago, honey," Agatha-san said. "He's really changed things for us."

"Oh yes, for me too," Claire agreed, remembering that she was supposed to be a devout follower of Letoism. "He's a beacon of hope."

"Haha, yeah," the old woman said, more serious this time. A few moments ago, she seemed like your average crazy old woman, but now her gaze was softer. "Out of all of us though, I think the Head Priest has brought Roze the most hope."

"How so?"

"Cornello-sama preaches that the Sun God Leto's followers' souls will live forever and that He can raise the dead... For Roze, who lost the only person she ever had in an accident shortly before Cornello-sama arrived, the hope he brought is probably the only thing that is keeping her going."

"The only person she's ever had?" Claire asked, sensing that this might be the answer to the previous mystery she had encountered as to what Roze was thinking about earlier.

"Her parents died shortly after she was born during our civil war," Agatha-san explained sadly. "And then a little over a year ago, her boyfriend, and also childhood friend, Cain died in an accident."

Claire was silent for a moment as she thought of a decent reply for the information she'd just heard. "…So Roze's faith in Cornello-sama stems from her desire to bring Cain back to life?"

"Yes," Agatha-san said.

"I see…" Claire said. "Leto really is all-powerful, isn't he?"

"Indeed," the old woman agreed. "I wonder, though, if returning the dead to the living is really the best thing to do…"

A suit of armor holding Edward Elric's blood-soaked body ran desperately into the house.

"Auntie!" the suit of armor called out. The voice was hollow, strangely echoing.

Winry and Aunt Pinako stood there shocked, eyes wide. Claire instinctively clapped her hands over her mouth, trying to process the sight before her. She'd seen the violet light shine from the Elrics' house before turning dangerously black, but she never would have expected this sort of outcome. It was too gruesome.

"Please…Please save Nii-san!"

"Al…" Winry said nervously."Is that you?"

The Edward Claire remembered had two arms and two legs, and the Al Claire remembered had a human body. They'd disappeared for several months to relearn alchemy, and then when they finally came back, this happened. Somehow, to see the Elric brothers in such a state was terrifying. She'd known them to be strong, determined, courageous. Now they were only weak, begging, desperate.

In order to gain something, something of equal value must be lost.

Edward Elric lost a leg; Alphonse Elric lost his whole body. It cost Ed an arm to bind Al's soul to the armor.

What was the price of a soul?

"…Yeah," Claire agreed after a moment, finally handing the old woman the money for the apples. Agatha-san was sharper than Claire thought she would be… Wisdom did indeed come with age.

The old woman smiled gently just as Roze ran back over to them.

"Claire, did you pay for the apples yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, just finished," Claire answered, grinning.

"Alright, let's go then," Roze said.

"Come again sometime won't you?" Agatha-san asked. "It was great having you!"

"Okay!" Roze said. "Bye!"

"See ya, Agatha-san," Claire said.

The old woman waved them off, saying, "I'll haunt ya if ya don't come back to visit me before I croak!"


By the time Roze and Claire got back to the church, it was already evening… and it was actually quite chilly. So basically, Claire had gone from sweating torrents to shivering. But she had survived the challenge! Desert temperatures couldn't beat her. Ha!

(But damn, she wanted a shower. She smelled disguuuuuuusting. Was Mustang hinting that she should carry deodorant with her at all times or something? What a conspiracy. Hmph. How dare he.)

Despite her want of a shower though, Claire ended up sitting on the church pews, observing Roze make her preparations for her offering. Part of the reason she had wanted to go to the market today was that she wanted to make an offering to Leto, and as a devout Letoist, how could Claire not also participate in this? As such, Claire found herself enduring her not-quite-so-good-smelling self for a little longer.

As Claire watched Roze make the preparations, she wondered how Roze managed to remain so devoted to Leto. If it was her, she knew she would ask "why" or "how" after pretty much every sentence in the Holy Book of Leto. It wasn't as if she'd throw the possibility that those things were actually possible away (she didn't not believe in supernatural stuff), but she wouldn't just swallow it all without a lengthy explanation either.

Roze's unconditional faith didn't make a whole lot of sense to Claire, but Claire supposed Roze was just different than she was.

The only problem was that Cornello-sama was a fraud…What was he planning to do with all those who believed in his religion no matter what?

It would be good if he really didn't have any ill-intentions…

"This is your first time seeing an offering to Leto, isn't it?" Roze asked suddenly.

"Yeah," Claire responded. Neither of them had spoken for awhile now, so Roze had broken her train of thought.

"Want me to explain the process to you?"

"Sure!"

Clasping her hands together and closing her eyes as if to imagine Leto, Roze explained, "See, the Sun God Leto watches over us. His warm rays of sunlight shine down upon us."

"Yeah."

"In order to have the offerings reach him, we must somehow allow him to consume them," she continued, picking up one of the apples as well as a match and holding them over a big metal pot filled with crinkled paper and branches. "The sun is an entity of fire… so we burn our offerings."

"Ohh!" Claire said, sounding interested. "I get it!"

"Mhm," Roze smiled and lit the match. Throwing both the match and apple into the pot, she said, "I know food offerings are small, but I don't have much else to offer."

"I'm sure Leto understands that!" Claire said. "He knows you're doing your best."

"You think so?"

"Yup!"

"Thank you," Roze said, looking flattered, and then her expression changed to one of reverence. "His miracles are amazing. If you pray to him every day and show him your faith, he can even make the dead come back to life."

"…Yeah," Claire agreed, but she found the idea of raising the dead to be rather unsettling. Still, she decided to continue to pretend to support Roze. In her position, there really wasn't much else she could do anyways. Without thinking, Claire asked, "You want to be together with your boyfriend again right?"

Roze froze.

Claire realized how inconsiderate and rude what she'd just said was. "I'm… sorry," she said. "Agatha-san told me."

"No, no," Roze said apologetically, as if nothing at all was wrong. Had Claire imagined it? Roze smiled. "Don't feel bad about it. With the help of Leto, he'll come back one day after all."

"Yes, definitely," Claire said confidently. Then, out of pure curiosity to see if there was any substance behind Roze's belief, she asked, "Have you seen Leto revive anyone before?"

Roze's eyes widened for a second as she stared into the fire, but again, she covered for it. "Oh no," she said. "For such a feat to be accomplished, an incredible amount of faith is necessary."

"Ah, no wonder then."

"…Yes," Roze agreed. After that though, she was oddly quiet. Claire couldn't help but wonder if Roze's faith wasn't nearly as strong as she wanted other people to believe it was… or perhaps if it was something that she believed in simply because she was too afraid to face the truth.


Author's note: For any of you who are wondering, deodorant was invented in 1888.

I know I'm only three chapters into this story, but what do you think I could improve so far? Con/crit is cool ;D

Also, I love reviews guys. Gimme feedback! Even one-word feedback is appreciated~

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!