Hooray for a faster update than last time!
So... a few milestones this chapter. Not only is it chapter 10, but I have 50 FREAKING REVIEWS! Thanks to you all, dear readers, for reading and reviewing! And, just to let you know, I look at the profile of every reviewer (I'm not a stalker, just bear with me here) and quite often read their fanfictions, as long as there about something I know. So a review may lead to another review... :P And you subscribers and favouriters (Canadian spelling of favourite, FTW. I am Canadian, just so you know) are awesome too!
I don't know when my next update will be, since I'm kinda busy with camp and stuff.
Oh yeah, and I accidentally reposted chapter nine, so if you get two notifications in your email, this is the right one. My bad.
Without further ado, chapter 10 (from my lame cliffhanger from last week!)!
We found Winry wandering around outside of the hotel. She was probably waiting for us. When she saw me, a puzzled expression came over her face, but it quickly disappeared.
"Hi, guys!" she said cheerily. "Glad to see you back safely."
"Yeah, whatever," Ed muttered. "Anyone give you trouble?"
"No, not at all. Why?"
"Nothing important." Ed said. "Old Man Fu and Lan Fan are still looking for Ling, huh?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't speak gibberish. What are you talking about?" I asked flatly. Ed sighed dramatically.
"Fu and Lan Fan are two warriors from Xing. Along with them came a guy called Ling Yao, a prince from Xing," Al explained.
"Xing. Xing, Xing, Xing." I repeated the word a few times. "Why do I know that name?"
"It's the country to the east," Winry said. "How do you not know?"
"She did say she was homeless, remember?" Ed's lips parted in a smirk. "She hasn't really had any education."
"Are you implying that I'm stupid, Edward?" I asked, not looking at him.
"Maybe."
I turned and kicked his legs out from under him, letting out a yelp as my shin made contact with his metal leg. I was successful at knocking him to the ground, but there would be a huge bruise on my leg afterward.
"Hey!" The blonde objected.
"Jerk," I retorted, sticking my tongue out. He glared at me.
"Young Master!" the man called Fu shouted. "Where are you?" I couldn't see him until I looked up, where he was standing on some piping overhead. I could see the girl Lan Fan, too. Both of them were wearing odd masks. Fu had grey hair and I couldn't tell what colour hair Lan Fan had because it was concealed by a hood.
"He's in trouble again. He's collapsed, I'm sure of it!" Lan Fan said, her voice carrying nothing but distress. I raised an eyebrow.
"Okay," Ed said. "Guess we should stop by the military offices first."
"Right," Al agreed, nodding.
"In that case, I think I'll head straight to the Hughes's house and let them know I'm in town." Winry said with a smile. "I can't wait to see Mrs. Gracia and cute little Elicia!"
"All right, I'm lost," I muttered.
"Sounds good. We shouldn't be all that far behind you." Ed said.
"'Kay! See you later!" Winry said, and ran off. "Oh, Louise, do you want to come? I'm sure you'd love Elicia!"
"No thanks," I replied. "I think I'll stay with Ed and Al."
"Okay. Good bye!" With that, she jogged off.
"I wonder if Lieutenant-colonel Hughes has put together any more information on the Philosopher's Stone since we left," Al said.
"The Fuhrer was pretty clear with his orders regarding that," Ed replied. "I think it's best that we give Hughes the information that we found out first."
Al turned to face his brother. "The Homunculi."
"Yeah," Ed said darkly. "I'm pretty sure Hughes said he was in the court martial office."
"I'm still lost," I said, my voice rising above Ed's. "Who's Hughes? And why does he need to know about the Homunculi?"
"Maes Hughes is a good friend of ours," Al explained. "He works for the military. He's friends with Colonel Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, who is also a fr-"
"Never mind about Colonel Bastard. This way!" Ed ran off and we both followed him.
"Yes, just don't inform the little Subject, why don't you," I muttered, jogging up behind Ed and grimacing at the pain in my ribs.
"Stop complaining. We're almost there."
"I wasn't complaining about it taking too long, dumbass. Can't you hear anything I say?"
"Guys, please." Al interrupted. "You don't need to start killing each other."
"It's not like I wanted to."
"You started it!" Ed argued.
"Brother!" Al cut his sibling off and we continued on our way.
The Central military building was a big old white thing with pillars and a wrought-iron gate and such. I didn't see why it was so fancy, it just contained documents and stuff, but maybe security needed to be tight.
We jogged past an empty phone booth and I caught the faint tang of blood, but thought nothing of it. Probably just a stray cat with a squirrel or something, I thought. Oh well.
We passed through the doors of the military building without a hitch because of Ed's State Alchemist license. It was quite convenient having that little pocket watch of his. It was a shiny pocket watch, too. I made a mental note to get a better look at it later.
"Huh?" Ed said, interrupting my thoughts. "Lieutenant Hawkeye?" I looked up to see a blonde woman in a military uniform clutching some documents to her chest. She had a sad look on her face. She looked up from the floor and smiled.
"Hey, guys. It's been a while." She said. Ed's expression changed to thought.
"If the lieutenant's here, that means so is-"
"Thanks for waiting."
Ed made a noise that sounded like BLEARGH."Yep, the colonel." He said. A man stepped out from behind Lieutenant Hawkeye. He had jet black hair and dark eyes. He could've been my (much) older brother if we stood next to each other.
"Well, hello, Fullmetal." He said, like it was a surprise to see him.
"Colonel Mustang, what're you doing here in Central?" Ed asked, his anger carefully controlled.
"You didn't hear?" Mustang asked. "I was transferred to this branch last month."
"Great," Ed said sarcastically.
"And you guys? What brings you here?" Mustang's eyes rested on me. "You and your friend."
"It's Louise," I said. "Nice to meet you."
"We're just doing a little information gathering," Ed explained. "And we were thinking we'd pay Lieutenant-colonel Hughes a visit a little later today." Mustang jerked back a bit, but Ed wasn't looking. A sudden bad feeling came over me. "Where is he, anyway?"
"Not here," Mustang answered in a careful voice.
"Huh?"
"He retired out into the country and took his wife and daughter with him to take over the family business." Hawkeye gave the Colonel a look. "So, he's not here."
"I see," Ed said a little sadly. "Well, that's too bad."
"We were hoping to see him," Al said. The colonel turned around and walked a few steps, then stopped.
"Fullmetal," he addressed the young alchemist.
"Hm?" Ed looked up.
"Watch yourself." The colonel advised. "Don't do anything crazy."
"...Okay." Ed said, puzzled. The colonel walked away, and Hawkeye followed him. We were left standing awkwardly in the hallway, watching them go.
"Well, that was pleasant," I said. "I was actually looking forward to meeting this Hughes guy. Too bad he retired."
"I can't believe Hughes is actually gone," Ed said.
"Oh, I almost forgot, Brother!" Al said suddenly. "We need to tell Winry about all this." Ed looked up at Al. "She went straight to the Hughes's house."
"Yeah, you're right," Ed said. He turned in the opposite direction and started to run until he crashed into something. I snickered. Ed looked at the obstacle, startled.
"Lieutenant Ross!" he said. The woman before us was also military, with short cropped black hair and a mole just under her left eye.
"I haven't seen you two here in a while," she said pleasantly, a smile on her face. "You're in a hurry. Why the rush? And who's your friend?"
"Louise," I introduced myself for the second time.
"We picked her up a while ago," Ed said. "We just heard about Lieutenant-colonel Hughes." Ross's face fell. The sudden realization came over me, confirming my suspicions about Hughes. He hadn't retired.
"Yeah. It's rough news, huh." She said sadly. I looked over to Ed and bit my lip, seeing if he'd caught on.
"There was still so much we wanted to tell him about," Ed said, his mouth forming a little smile. Stupid as ever, I thought.
"We would've liked to say goodbye," Al agreed. Oh, him too? I thought that at least Al would've figured it out!
"We weren't able to reach you," Ross said. "Don't worry, though. The military gave him a proper send-off."
"Wooow, that was nice." Ed said, thinking the military overshot their farewell a bit. I looked frantically between him, Ross, and Al.
"That's how it's done," Ross said sadly. "Also, if you three haven't heard already, I'm sure you'll both be glad to know he was promoted. Two whole ranks."
Ed was astonished. "To Brigadier General?"
"He retired to the country and they promoted him?" Ross let out a shocked gasp as Al was speaking. I winced. Ross covered her mouth with both hands and looked between the brothers. Ed's face showed the realization slowly dawning on him, but he didn't appear to get it yet.
"Lieutenant Ross?" he questioned. She was shaking a little bit. Then Ed's eyes widened and he put the puzzle together in his mind. He walked up to Ross.
"No! Not the lieutenant-colonel!" His voice was high with grief. "Why him?"
"Brigadier General Hughes is dead." Ross explained. "He was murdered shortly after you were discharged from the hospital, Edward." Hospital? Discharged? When was that? "I'm afraid we still haven't found the person responsible."
There was a moment of silence, and Ed sprinted out of the building, leaving me and Al to take care of his suitcase. Well, actually just Al because I ran out right after him, making sure he didn't go kill himself.
"Brother!" Al called after him. "Louise!" But Ed just kept running.
"Ed! Wait up! You have to calm down!" I yelled, but I knew he couldn't hear me. He turned into an alley and ran most of the way down, then slowed to a stop with one hand on the wall, panting. I came up behind him and cautiously put a hand on his shoulder.
"Ed, you're overreacting." I said. "I know what it's like to lose a... a loved one. You don't need to think it's your fault." I felt a twinge of grief for this Hughes guy. He must've been a good man for Ed to break down over him. If there's a God out there, make sure Hughes rests in peace, I thought.
If there is a God out there, he would've done me mercy and killed me a long time ago.
Al caught up to us and Ed sank down into a crouch, a whimper-like sound coming from his throat. I was reminded of when I watched Subject Two get pulled out of her cage, making the same sound. My head throbbed at the memory and my heart twisted. I crouched down beside the distressed alchemist.
"Ed, I know how you feel, but you have to pull yourself together. You're getting worked up over something that isn't your fault. You don't need to do this." I soothed.
"You don't understand! He got dragged into this mess because of us, Louise!" he snapped.
"Well, the least you could do is stop being a baby about it. He wouldn't want you to act like this over him." I said, trying not to sound angry. "Trust me. I know your mom died, but I've watched my entire family get taken away from me. You don't have it bad." Ed had nothing to say to that. He simply stood up and looked ahead. "Are you done?"
"Yeah," he answered. "Thanks."
I smirked. "Any time." I paused. "Now we have the problem of breaking the news to Winry." Silence.
"...Yeah," Ed said. "She'll probably be with the Hughes's. We should..."
"Go," Al agreed. "Come on, Louise. We'll lead the way."
"You're not going to break down too, are you Al?" I asked mischievously.
"I hope not," the armoured boy replied. We began walking again, this time towards the Hughes residence. Ed and Al led me and I followed like an obedient dog (apt, considering I was technically part dog). When we arrived, the brothers stopped at the foot of the stairs.
"What do we do?" Al asked.
"We tell it like it is," Ed said, no tone in his voice. "You go on back. I'm the only one who has to take the blame for what happened."
"Brother, this isn't just your problem. It's both of ours," Al said. Yay, leaving me out of the conversation again, I thought. "Like it or not, I'm going in with you."
"And me too," I piped up. "I'm kind of stuck with you guys. You wouldn't just leave me out here in the street, would you?" Although it's probably a pretty appealing thought to you, I thought blandly.
"Thanks Al, Louise," Ed said, "but you really don't have t-"
"We made up our minds. We said we were getting our bodies back, no matter what." Ed turned at his brother's words and gasped. "But if people are going to die because of that, then I don't want mine back." Ed was silent, his intense golden gaze boring into Al. Then he turned back to the stairs and started walking towards the door.
A woman with brown hair and green eyes opened the door to the apartment, and I assumed she was Gracia Hughes. A shocked look came over her face at first, but then she smiled. She turned into her house.
"Winry's already here," she said in a kindly voice.
"Right," Ed nodded and we walked in. Winry was sitting on a couch, clutching a little girl (probably Elicia) tightly in her arms.
"Winry," Ed said, and the distressed girl looked up. They exchanged a glance, and I could see that Elicia was sleeping. "Um, Mrs. Gracia? I'm sorry, but there's something I need to talk to you about, if I may."
"About Maes?"
"That's right." He looked to his best friend. "You too, Winry." The girl stared at Ed and blinked a few times, then nodded. Winry carefully handed Elicia to her mother and the woman sat down, along with Al, Ed and I. After a quick introduction between me and Gracia, Ed began to explain how Mr. Hughes had found out things about the Philosopher's Stone, and how it put him in so much danger that he had to be killed.
"So Maes learned things about the Philosopher's Stone that someone didn't want him to know." Gracia summarized. "His death was a message, a warning to you from whoever did it to back off from all this." The brothers simply sat there.
"Yeah, we basically dragged him into it," Ed's voice was thick with grief. He clenched his hands, his head hanging . "I'm sorry." His breathing shook and he shut his eyes tight and gritted his teeth. "So sorry!" Winry looked over at the almost sobbing Ed. His entire body was shaking, and I could feel the couch shifting with every shudder.
"That would be just like him, dying while trying to help somebody else." Gracia spoke, and everyone looked up at her words. "My husband. He always was a busy-body and a meddler, and it got him into trouble, a lot. But, you know, I don't think he ever had regrets. Not any. Not even in his dying moments, Edward." Ed clenched his teeth again.
"But we..."
"Don't tell me you're going to give up. You can't let what happened defeat you. If you do, then that means my husband died in vain."Gracia smiled, a kind, motherly smile that almost made me jealous that I had no parents. "Even if the Philosopher's Stone is a dead end, there might be some other way."
"Maybe, I guess," Ed said quietly.
"You boys have to keep moving forward, any way you can." Gracia said with finality.
"She's right, Ed," I said quietly. "You can't let this slow you down. I didn't." I hoped he knew that I meant the deaths of the other subjects. He looked up and gave me a sad, insincere smile. I put a hand on his shoulder and we exchanged a few more words with Gracia, then left the house with Winry.
Ed slowly closed the door behind him and looked to the three of us, his face blank but his eyes holding devastation. Then, we heard a young girl's voice on the other side of the door.
"Mommy?" We all looked at the door. "Mommy, please don't cry." Gracia's sobbing reached my ears and I was reminded with a pang of Rachel. I watched Ed's face twist with sadness, then turned to leave.
"We should go," I said, "before this gets any worse." Al nodded in agreement and we set off into the sunset.
We walked to the hotel in silence, each swimming in our own thoughts. Winry trailed slightly behind Al, and I walked behind her. Apparently, Hughes was quite the smart man, so he must have figured out something big. Something to do with the Philosopher's Stone and the country of Amestris. I thought it over, trying to take on the mind of a crazed scientist, but I couldn't put my finger on anything.
Winry gave a sad smile and walked into her room. I followed the Elrics, not wanting to have to put up with the smell of automail after a stressful day. I was tired of all the sadness and grief, even though I felt some myself.
We all went to our separate places for brooding. Al sat on a stool/chair thing in the hotel room, and I sat on a bed, fingering the feathers on my wings, which I had pushed out. Winry was in her room, alone, and I couldn't tell what she was doing. Ed was downstairs eating, but I doubted that he would consume any food.
"Al?" I asked, breaking the silence. There was a creak as the boy turned to look at me as I stood by the window. "I'm going for a quick fly, okay? I promise I won't do anything stupid." I opened the window, lighting up the nearly pitch black room, and got ready to push off. "And tell Ed when he gets back... I'm sorry."
With that, I flew off into the darkening sky, trying to just get away from it all.
GODS THAT WAS DEPRESSING.
So, yeah... Hughes is dead His death scene, his funeral, and the part where Elicia tells her mom not to cry made me cry... If you didn't cry at one of those, then you're either really tough or really cruel XD I make joke. See, it's funny, right?
I'd like to know, what do you think of this story? I'll set up a poll on my profile for you guys to answer.
Now, back to watching Soul Eater!
See that blue thing down there? Yeah, right at the bottom of this page in the center. If you click that button, you'll go into the world of rainbows and unicorns and Candy Mountain Chaaaaaarlieeee...
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