Elemental Alchemist-Part 8
Satori walked down the hallway at Central HQ next to Colonel Roy Mustang. They hadn't spoken for several minutes, going on ten.
Satori had brought her mother and the Box of Masks back to Central and left her mother in Satori's bed and the Box at the foot of said bed. Ed and Al had volunteered to watch the room and notify her of any changes. It had been wild, Mustang had had to pull a few strings, then Satori was ordered to tell him what had happened up at the yamabushi (mountain dwelling), as a verbal report. No written report was required, seeing as how the mission was not given by the militia.
"Sir, if I may..."
"No, you may not."
"I would like to bury my uncle, and lead a search party in search of my father. If no body was found–"
Mustang was silent a moment. Ed had told the Colonel about his meeting– if unexpected at the time– with Satori's father before busting in and keeping Satori from getting killed.
"I grant you permission."
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry you have had to..."
"Don't sweat it. They would have killed me." Satori wiped a tear away quickly. "Kill or be killed, right?" She flashed a smile.
Mustang saw it as a fake.
"Don't give me that crap, Major. You're hurting."
"It's no big deal." Satori wouldn't look at him now. "I knew I'd have to someday."
"You should go and get some rest."
"No, I need to eat. I haven't done so for 36 hours, anyway."
"That long without food?"
"Hey, someone's gotta stop my crazy family."
She broke off from his company and veered toward the mess hall. She went in and got a plat of food. Mashed potatoes, gravy, a side of veggies, and a small burrito. She sat down at a small secluded table near the door. She couldn't eat and only took a few bites of mashed potatoes.
She looked up as Riza Hawkeye sat down at the other end. Hawkeye said nothing as Satori turned back to her food and kept picking at it.
"Roy told me what happened, I'm sorry."
"Don't be, the Colonel can't keep a small secret worth a damn."
"No, about your brother, then your uncle."
"You people have to stop treating me like a kid." Satori got up with her plate. "I had a problem and I handled it."
She deposited her tray and was about to leave. Riza caught her arm. Satori stopped and looked back.
"1st Lieutenant Hawkeye, please unhand me at once."
"First off, don't talk to me that way. Second, I am only trying to help you. Keeping all this inside isn't good for you."
"I don't need to be told what's good for me, Riza." Satori pulled her arm away and walked off down the hall again. "I can take care of myself."
"At least let Ed help you!" Riza called helplessly.
Satori closed the door to her apartment quietly as she entered. The living room– with a small couch, two armchairs and a fireplace– was quiet. No one was seen anywhere in the dwelling. Satori checked in on her mother– who slept in Satori's light green furnished room. She was still asleep.
Satori made her way back to the grey and blue living room to find Ed sitting on the window seat, looking out at the street. She stood at the entrance to the room, and Ed made no move to look at her.
Silence.
"What did he say?" Ed asked.
"He's allowing me to start a search party."
"You won't find anything."
"Why not?"
Ed stared helplessly out the window.
"Tell me!" Satori felt tears threaten the corners of her eyes.
Ed did not answer.
"He's not dead! He can't be! There wasn't a–"
"He's alive."
"What?"
"I said he's alive. He told me about the tunnel-way between the ceiling. That's how I got to you in time. He disappeared before I could do anything else."
"Why didn't you tell Mustang?"
"I did."
"Why didn't you tell me,dammit?"
"I wanted to. It hurt not to tell you he was alive, but Mustang...he told me not to tell you."
Satori was silent as she went over to an armchair in front of the dead fireplace. She took off her robe and draped it over the arm of the other chair and curled up into a loose ball. Her black jeans felt too tight, her white sleeveless shirt felt like it would cut her in half. She hugged her knees to her chest.
"Where's Al?" she finally asked.
"Your fridge has hardly any food, he went shopping."
"You didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to."
"Why?"
"To help you," Ed got up and came over the chair. He sat on its arm. "You haven't eaten anything but a few bites of anything for three days, Seiji."
"I can't eat knowing I've taken two human lives."
"You had no choice."
"That's what I want to believe." She paused. "For a moment back on that mountain, I would have let him live. But another part of me told me that if I did, he would come and kill me sooner or later. He wouldn't have let me live, not after..."
Silence.
"What of my mother?"
"She woke while you were out giving your report to Mustang."
"Has she eaten anything?"
"She had that can of peas you had in the pantry. You do know that all of your house clocks are wrong right?"
"I don't need a clock to tell me the time. I have the sun, the moon, and the stars."
"Of course, silly me," Ed rolled his eyes. "Come on, it's getting late, why don't you go to bed."
"I can sleep out here by the fire."
Ed was silent as Satori got out a sleeping pad and lay it out by the fireplace.
"Get one for me too."
"You need to go home, Ed."
"I'm staying here. You need help."
"I don't need– !" She took a deep breath. "So what if I do? I can handle a little depression."
"You're hurting too much."
"So? I said I can handle it."
Ed knelt beside her and pulled her into a hug. Satori froze. Ed's grip tightened on her, and he whispered into her ear.
"Let me help you, Seiji. You don't have to go through it alone."
"You've never killed anyone before, how could you help me?"
"You can tell me about it, I can help."
Satori tried to pull away, but Ed held her tightly.
"Don't close me out."
"I'm not."
"Don't argue."
"I'm not closing you out."
"Yes, you are."
Ed held her at arms length now. His eyes met hers, and the room seemed to slow within the time stream.
Ed sat back against the side of the chair. Satori knelt on her knees on the sleeping mat.
"You're closing the world out, Seiji."
"What did the world ever do to me to deserve my recognition?"
"Are you so blinded by the deeds you've done you won't accept any help?"
Satori's eyes narrowed.
"You're acting like Hawkeye! Does everyone think I'm a weakling??"
"No one thinks that."
"Well you all sure have a way of showing it! Even Mustang thinks I'm unstable!"
Ed's eyes widened.
"He does?"
"I could hear the undertone in his voice! It was like he was asking me if I wanted to take a vacation. I don't need any help."
"If Mustang thinks it's best–"
"Mustang can go pound quicksand and get stuck in it!" She huffed. Her cheeks were flushed. "I didn't mean that." She lay down on the mat. "I guess I do need some guidance. I need to find otou, maybe he can help me."
Ed took off his jacket and lay it beside her sleeping mat. He put his legs on either side of hers and leaned over her, his hands on either side of her head. They were so close their noses were but a hairs breath away from each other, and their chests inhaled and exhaled at the same rate.
"Can I help you, Seiji?" Ed asked.
"O-only if you want to." Satori couldn't move, she looked up at him.
Ed's hair fell to frame his face.
"Ed..." Satori started.
Ed leaned closer.
"Let me help you heal."
He kissed her. She came up to meet it. She sat up, still kissing him. He came up for air and swung her around to lean against the chair. He looked at her.
"Any better?"
"I don't...know." Satori confessed. "Everything is so muddled. So grey."
"It can be fixed. You did what you needed to."
"Maybe, I'm not sure."
He leaned over her and kissed her again. One hand rested on the arm of the chair just above her head, the other wove itself into her hair, undoing the braid and letting it hang down. Satori's hands clasped behind Ed's head, bringing him closer.
They parted again, Satori's face slightly flushed. Golden orbs met stormy blue eyes.
"Thank you." Satori said, almost a whisper.
"Now will you let me stay with you?" Ed asked, his voice matching her volume.
"Yes..." Satori looked up at him. "By all means..."
Al came back around eleven o'clock to find Satori and Ed each on a mat by the fire, their hands touching. Neither had use for a blanket, he noted, because they were using the other's body heat for warmth. He went into the kitchen, turned on the soft light, and began sorting the groceries into the fridge and cabinets.
Then he went over to the phone, picked it up, and called Rikuno.
"What?" a tired female on the other line answered.
"It's me, Al."
"What are you calling me near midnight for?" Rikuno's voice was husky.
"I think someone's watching Satori's apartment."
"Wait," Rikuno was a little more alert now, "You both are at Seiji's house, how come?"
"She went off on a mission not assigned to anyone by the State, it was her own choice to go. She had to get this Box of Masks– a family heirloom– back from her uncle, whome she believes burned down her house to kill her father and get her mother."
"Yeah, evil uncle, burned mountain house..."
"She got the Box, and her mother's at the apartment in the spare room, but..."
"Spit it out, Tin Man!"
"She had to kill her uncle."
Silence on the other end of the line, then:
"Ouch. Two family members in the same week."
"It was a self-defense situation, right, Rikuno??" Al was frantic now. "They can't charge her with two accounts of murder, can they?"
"As much as I hate to say it, kid, they can–"
"Oh no!!"
"– which is why we keep this quiet. No one can know. Does anyone know?"
"Only Colonel Mustang, on both accounts."
"We can trust him to keep this on the down low." Rikuno was silent. "Let me speak to Ed."
"He's sleeping."
"Wake him up."
"With Satori."
Another pause.
"You make that sound so wrong."
"They're on separate mats!!"
"Clothes on?"
"DUH!!!"
"Had to make sure." Rikuno's grin could practically be heard through the phone line. "Kids these days. Anything else I can do for you, Heartless, before I go back to sleep?"
"No, that's about it, thanks Rikuno."
"Don't mention it, Alphonse."
"Oh, and Rikuno?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't call me Heartless."
Rikuno laughed as she hung up the phone.
Al hung up the phone and went to look in on Ed and Satori again. Satori now sat upright in a meditative pose, looking down at Ed with woeful eyes.
"Hello, Alphonse." she didn't turn around.
"Hello, Seiji."
"Why do you insist to call me that?"
"It's your name."
"No, it's not...not anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I've been around a lot of this world, Al, and I never once got called by my first name. I've hardly used it but to introduce myself, and people just forget it anyway."
"That doesn't mean it isn't yours."
"But it isn't, is it? Seiji is a divine name. I am no longer worthy of such a birth-name."
Al was silent. Satori didn't look around, but stood up. It was then Al saw she was fully clothed in the pants and robe of a samurai. Her hair was braided with a sapphire blue ribbon. A katana was thrust through her belt and her Sang Kwa was in her right hand as a walking stick.
"You're leaving?"
"I have to, I have to find my father."
"But Mustang said–"
"He's been overruled."
"By who?"
"Who else??" Satori flared. "The Fuhrer obviously has something very important he wants to hide, and if what Ed says is true, then my father is still alive, running from military command."
"But you just got back."
"I've been through trauma, that's true. But if I stay too long, then I'll break down like last time. I can't break down, not while utou needs my help. I'm going."
"Let me come."
"No."
"Then what are we supossed to do while you're on that mountain?? Brother will worry, and Rikuno will get flared again."
"You'll manage." Satori was in the door frame now, framed by the soft glow of the lamps outside. It was raining outside, and the stones on the walk were soaked with moisture. "Stay as long as you want, and come once a day to check on onna for me. Keep Ed from following me."
She stepped into the street and was gone.
A shadow washed away by the rain.
