Tolly: Alright! Last chapter!
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Robin arrived at the doors to the conference room long before Emma and the little girl, and because her hands were injured, kicked the door as hard as she could. Within seconds, her father poked his head out. "What…" he began, but trailed off when he saw her bleeding hands. Immediately, he opened the door wider to let her in. "What happened, Robin? Where's Emma?"
"She's coming," said Robin. She heard Mustang clear his throat. "I'm really sorry to interrupt, but there's something you have to see."
At that moment, Emma entered, carrying the child. "You don't have to worry about the Dual Spirit any more, Fuhrer. You can be sure of that." she said smugly.
"Would one of you explain what's going on?" Mustang demanded.
Emma carefully pulled the girl's arms from around her neck and set her down, keeping a hand on the girl's shoulder to reassure her. "The Dual Spirit no longer exists, sir. You know how she was made up of those two girls? Well, Robin broke her blood seal--"
"On accident," said Robin quietly, sitting down beside her mother.
"—and that released one of Dual Spirit's souls, the girl named Tanya. So then Sophie tried to bring Tanya back to life, but there was a massive rebound. She destroyed herself completely. All that was left was this little girl and a…" Here Emma wrinkled her nose in disgust. "…a pile of parts. We left it on the roof. I think it's alive."
Brand Wallace and both of the Elric brothers jumped up and left the room, heading to investigate the creature remaining on the roof. Alim got up from his seat and inspected Robin's hands. Without a word, he removed the shreds of her gloves and used the transmutation circles on his own hands to heal her before moving on to look at the child.
The little girl edged closer to Emma, frightened by his dark sunglasses at first, but Emma quickly told her it was alright.
"So, you're saying that this girl is Dual Spirit?" asked Mustang.
"All that's left of her," said Robin. "We don't know exactly what happened. If you follow the rules of equivalency, the loss of one body and two souls shouldn't have produced two bodies, right?"
"No, but…" put in Anna, thinking. "There's never been a case like this before, remember? What I gathered from our conversation earlier was that Dual Spirit shouldn't have been created in the first place. Maybe this is the reaction for that action."
"Whatever the case," said Mustang. "She should be taken into military custody. If she's the Dual Spirit, she's got a lot to answer for."
"But she's not the Dual Spirit!" Emma protested. "Blaming her for Dual Spirit's crimes would be like…like blaming Robin for something Aunt Anna did!"
Anna nodded in agreement, but Mustang wasn't convinced.
Emma rolled her eyes and knelt down to be at the girl's eye level. "Hey there," she said gently. "What's your name?"
The girl looked at her blankly. "Name?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm Emma. Who are you? Sophie? Tanya?"
The girl just looked confused.
"You see?" said Emma, turning back to the Fuhrer.
"Her voice isn't Sophie's or Tanya's," said Robin. "It's somewhere in between…I've never heard anything like it."
"She's a completely new person!" said Emma firmly, as though daring the Fuhrer to say otherwise.
"And completely human," said Alim, stepping back. "Her approximate age is six years. She's healthy, as well, with no injuries or any sign of the virus that Sophie Derran was infected with."
"Well, this is something different…" sighed Mustang, leaning back in his chair.
"There was nothing on the roof," said Ed, coming in with Brand and Al. "Just this knife." He held out the small knife that had broken Dual Spirit's seal.
At the sight of it, the little girl cried out in fear and hid behind Emma.
"What in the world…?" said Emma, confused. "You know about the knife?" she asked the child.
"It's a bad thing…" said the girl softly. She looked over at Robin. "Like her."
"Why is it bad?" Emma asked.
"I don't know, it just is!" The little girl buried her face in Emma's shoulder and started to cry. "It's scary!" she sobbed.
"Interesting," said Alim. "She bears no sign of the blood seal, but she seems to remember Robin breaking it."
"It was an accident!" Robin objected. "Dual Spirit was going to kill Emma. I had to do something!"
Roy frowned and turned his attention to Ed. "You said there was nothing up there?"
"Just the knife." Ed answered. "No creature, alive or dead."
"It couldn't have just got up and walked away," said Emma, while comforting the little girl. "It couldn't even move."
"Are you sure you saw it in the first place?" asked Roy.
"Positive! Right, Robin?"
Robin nodded. "I could hear the noises it was making…it was horrible!"
"I don't like the sound of this," said Al.
Anna stood up. "You people can get to work anything else that needs to get done, but I'm taking these girls home—all three of them!"
"Blackpowder…" Roy began.
"See you tomorrow, Roy!" said Anna cheerfully, leading Robin, Emma, and the little girl out the door.
Leon raised his eyebrows and looked at the Fuhrer.
Roy groaned. "Yes. Go. Tell her I want a full report on that girl in the morning."
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"I'm going to call her Sonya," Emma announced as the group arrived back at the O'Reilly home. "In honor of who she used to be. How do you like that name?"
The little girl looked up at her and nodded. "I like that name!" she said happily.
"Sonya it is!" said Anna. "But what do we do with her?"
"It's probably not a good idea to keep her here in Central," Leon commented.
"She could come home with me," suggested Emma. "There's plenty of room back at the house."
Anna thought about that. "True…and Mama probably wouldn't object to another kid. She always liked having a full house."
Robin came downstairs from her hunt for old clothes for Sonya to wear. When she started to hand them to the child, however, Sonya shied away from her, still afraid. Robin went back upstairs without a word. Before long, a roll of thunder could be heard rumbling over the city.
"A storm?" asked Emma, helping Sonya put on the second-hand clothes. "But it was a pretty clear night…"
"That's no storm," said Leon, looking upwards at the ceiling. "That would be Robin."
"Say what?"
"I'll go talk to her," said Anna, heading up the stairs. When she came to Robin's room, she saw that the gable window was wide open, and she climbed through it onto the roof to find Robin sitting up against the chimney, making thunder.
A strip of cloth was tied around Robin's head, covering her eyes (which made no difference to her) and protecting her sensitive ears from the noise. She had on a pair of very thin gloves, and her hands were cupped together. She pressed her lips against her thumbs and blew, as if blowing into a whistle. A small transmutation circle across her thumbs started glowing, and a roar of thunder escaped.
Anna straddled the peak of the roof, facing her daughter. She reached out and took the cloth off Robin's head.
"What?" snapped Robin.
"You're upset that Sonya's afraid of you, aren't you?"
Robin sighed, pulled her knees up to her chin, and nodded.
"Wanna tell me what happened back at HQ?"
"I didn't even think twice, Mom," said Robin, speaking quietly. "I stabbed her. I killed Tanya. Sonya doesn't even remember any of that, but I do. I know why she's afraid of me, even if she doesn't."
Anna was silent for a while. "You know what I used to be afraid of, Robin? Frogs."
"Huh?"
"It's true. They scared the living daylights out of me, the way they jump up out of nowhere and stare at you with those bulging eyes…it's creepy."
"And…why are you telling me this?"
"Because my fear was pointless," said Anna, grinning. "I got over it eventually, and realized how silly it was. Just like when I was afraid to become a mother, the whole time there was really nothing to be scared of. Someday, Sonya will realize that too."
"I doubt it," said Robin, but she was already feeling less miserable.
"It will take a little time, but I know you know how to be patient. You're your father's daughter, after all." Anna started to slide back down the roof to the open window. "Are you coming down?"
Robin slid down after her mother, knowing exactly where to place her feet without having to feel her way or be told.
"You know," said Anna as they came back in through the window. "That thunder-whistle of yours is pretty cool. Did you design it yourself?"
Robin nodded, taking off her gloves and putting them into her pocket. "I want to get the circle tattooed on my hands so I won't have to keep using gloves."
"Not until you're 18," said Anna, promptly turning and leaving the room.
Robin ran after her. "Oh, come on, Mom! Just one little tattoo! Okay, technically two, but…"
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The next morning, when the train pulled into the station, Little John Johnson hopped off to see his younger sister waiting for him with a black-haired, purple-eyed six-year-old beside her.
"Please don't tell me you won her in a bet…" he said with a groan.
"No, it's kind of a long story," said Robin, walking up with her parents. "Emma can tell you everything on the way."
"For now, I'd like you to meet Sonya Johnson!" said Emma. "Sonya, this is your new big brother."
Sonya stared up at the young man. "He's a big big brother," she noted.
Emma laughed. "Yeah, but you'll get used to it."
"Um, okay then…Thanks for putting up with the gambler, Cannon Anna," said Little John, giving his aunt a hug. "Hope she didn't cause too much trouble."
"Trouble?" asked Anna, raising an eyebrow. "I wouldn't say trouble, per se…"
Little John glanced at his sister, who suddenly looked rather sheepish. "You've got some explaining to do, little sister." Emma nodded.
"Well, until next time?" said Robin, holding out her hand.
Emma shook it. "Maybe my next visit will be a little less…eventful."
"We can only hope."
"See you around, cuz!" called Emma as she, Sonya, and Little John boarded the train without further ado. Their train pulled away from the platform a few minutes later.
As they waved back at the O'Reillys, Emma thought she saw a barefooted teenager standing in the crowd…but when she looked again, there was nothing.
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Tolly: Hn. How's that for an ending? Read and review!
