Chapter 10

The Revelation

"There's Rush Valley!" Winry said excitedly. She was going to see Pinina again, and she had Edward again, so maybe she could convince him to buy her new equipment. He had mentioned he wanted to buy her a birthday present to make up for the past 6 years he had missed. However, that did not matter to her. She was just glad to a part of presence, to be around his strong aura. He wore cologne, she had never noticed before. She stole a glance at Edward, who mumbled something about 5 minutes and was slumbering peacefully. Alphonse was in rapt conversation with Riza and Mustang.

The investigations team had cleared out after Ed, Al, and Fuhrer Mustang had gotten their lead. Ed had fallen asleep reading the journal. There were pieces of paper sticking out from the leather-bound volume. Winry carefully pulled it out of his grasp, his metal hand letting it go carefully. Winry looked out the open window with the warm breeze blowing hard against the speedy train. They had practically jumped into the last car trying to catch the train, almost having to wait until tomorrow.

Ed had said it reminded him of when he and Al were on the way to Risembool and Armstrong had carried them all the way to the train station. Edward laughed because he remembered he had tried to jump out the window, unsuccessfully, thanks to Armstrong. Al laughed too, remembering his dilemma of being cargo and being cursed demon armor. The armor that would steal your soul after you became one with it. It was not funny at the time, but now they could look back and laugh about it. That was before they had any huge problems, like fighting the homunculi.

Winry carelessly turned the pages, reading excerpts of undoubtedly a women's handwriting. It was more of a scribble than actual writing. Winry thought to herself, 'Maybe the girl who wrote it can't even read her own handwriting.' She smiled at that thought, thinking about how terrible that predicament would be.

Winry felt the train start to slow down, and Mustang, Riza, and Alphonse looked out the window to confirm it. Riza gently touched Winry's shoulder and told her to wake the Full Metal Alchemist when it was time.

"Where are you heading off to?" She looked at the three accusingly. She did not want to be the one that woke Ed from his sleep.

"The Fuhrer needs protection at all times. Alphonse and I will take the Fuhrer to the back of the train, to mingle with the crowd. We do not want him to be an easy target. It would be easier if you and Edward stayed here." Riza replied. Alphonse nodded in agreement and they headed out.

When the train came to a complete stop Winry shut the book, putting the map in the front cover. She gently shook Edward's shoulder, and he came awake slowly.

"Edward?" Winry said softly. "We're in Rush Valley. Riza, Roy, and Alphonse are probably getting off the train by now, I'm sure they'll get our bags." The few bags there were.

Edward opened his eyes slowly, taking in what she said and stretching. "Thanks Winry, let's go." Winry offered him the book, and he took it. He raised an eyebrow, and Winry smiled apologetically. He smiled back and took the book gently.

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Patrick was waiting at the station, keeping a lookout for the Elric team. He wore a hat and a bandanna to cover his identity when he saw half the team. The people he saw were Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, and Alphonse Elric. That meant his brother was not far behind, and Patrick headed back to the hotel to report.

He walked through the busy streets, keeping his head down. His sister would not be happy at all, he knew that. She was already up in the hotel room freaking out. What would this do to her?

He walked in through the front door of the hotel, nodding to the man behind the counter. The man nodded back, though he had a suspicious look in his eyes. Something was just not right with the two visitors. They both made him uneasy, and he would not be sorry to see them go. Patrick knew this.

He carefully knocked the secret knock on the door and waited for Emma to open it. She opened the door, with the chain still blocking full entrance, saw it was Patrick and closed it. Patrick heard the chain unlock, and saw Emma swing open the door. She looked him up and down critically.

"What's the news?" She said meanly. She criticized him far too harshly sometimes. Patrick offered his hands, palms up, and shrugged with a smile. Patrick was not as harsh as Emma was; he was by far more understanding.

"Well, they showed up. However, we don't know they are looking for you exactly."

"Stop being so optimistic Patrick. Truly, I think you can be quite an idiot sometimes." He sighed as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. Emma was running around the room, frantic. She was throwing things carelessly into her suitcase and Patrick calmly went over to the suitcase and folded things in it neatly. "I mean REALLY Patrick, I knew we should have left the MOMENT we even THOUGHT -!" Patrick cut her off with a calm hand.

"I know Emma. I thought it best NOT to leave suddenly though. It would have been far more disastrous if they thought they had to CHASE us Emma. I still think it is wise that we stayed here. But now," He picked up the suitcase with his not-metallic arm. "I believe it is time to leave." He motioned to Emma for the door.

However, she stood still for a moment. She was thinking of how they would be looking for a woman with that handwriting. However, what if she was not a woman when they saw her?

"Patrick… I need some of your clothes." Patrick looked at Emma as if she was crazy, and he sighed. She was at least 2 feet shorter than he was, and it took a matter of consideration.

"Emma, you're short, small, and all over tiny." He sighed. "How do you expect to fit into MY clothes? I don't have any money for you to buy clothes either." Emma smiled wickedly.

"My dear Patrick, I AM an alchemist." She took out her chalk from under her sleeve, her white glove making it barely visible. She always wore gloves, always. Concealing her odd, discolored arms, he oddly shaped arm. Her clothes covered other deformities on her body. Like a piece of rotted flesh on her calves.

Patrick sighed. "We don't really have time for this Emma." He said, motioning toward the door again.

"Patrick, you underestimate me!" She gasped. She drew a transmutation circle on the bed, making the sheets and quilt into suitable clothes. A simple newsboy outfit was constructed. A white cotton shirt with sleeves that ran to her wrists, after she put it on, she rolled the sleeves up below her elbows. A tan vest was also there, with cheap wooden buttons, along with tan pants that stopped below her knees. She rolled up the stockings up to her knees before she put on her pants, finishing with black shoes. She quickly reached up above her head and pinned her hair on top, finishing the look with a cap. The cap bulked up far enough where it hid the slight bump of her bunched up hair. She pulled the brim of the hat over her forehead.

Then she ran to the fireplace grabbing ashes from the night before. She quickly made herself dirty, spreading it on her face and clothes. Then she turned to Patrick.

"How do I look?" She said, smiling.

"Like a little boy who could be my brother." Patrick scoffed. He was too tall for that kind of getup, so he decided to go as himself. Emma proudly went out the door and ran down the stairs.

The lobbyist had not remembered a newsboy coming into the hotel. He did not like those strange, dirty boys messing around in the rooms. Then he noticed the tall man that made him uneasy. The Lobbyist smiled at the suitcase that the man was holding and at the key, he set on the counter. He also set a wad of bills on the counter. The lobbyist quickly counted it.

"This is more than you we need sir." He pointed out.

"Trust me, you want it." Patrick growled at him. At that, he turned on his heel and walked out the door.

Straight into the Elric Alchemist group.

Patrick panicked. He quickly looked around the busy street for Emma. He found her trying to sell some newspapers. She jumped so quickly into her roles that she took up. Mustang was conversing with a man, talking about a girl and a man with a new mechanical arm. Edward and Alphonse were also scouring the crowd. Winry was looking at auto mail, but then she glanced up, as if she had a premonition. That is when she saw Patrick. Her face brightened and she walked over to him, Alphonse and Edward did not notice.

"Patrick! I should have known you would be here!" Winry said with enthusiasm. She smiled eagerly, and took Patrick's auto mail in her hands. She looked at the hand and machinery carefully. Her trained eye would detect any problems with the machinery.

"Is there any problems?" He asked her carefully. He did not want to attract the attention of Winry's companions. He was sure there would be problems.

'I have to get him over to Ed and Al.' she thought to herself. She had to get their attention, while still keeping Patrick at her side. "Here Patrick, I want you to meet some friends of mine." She dragged him over to Ed and Al, but he was unwilling.

"Oh, Winry, I have to go, uh, get my sister." He said, stumbling over his words.

However, Winry was not about to give up that easily.

"Oh, this will only take a second, Patrick." She called over to Ed and Al, both looking up at the same time.

Edward understood right away. He looked Patrick up and down, motioning to the MPS that were with him. They quickly surrounded Winry, and her 'Guest'. Alphonse, catching on, went over to Mustang and told him that they found one of the suspects. He was becoming more suspicious by the minute.

Mustang smirked and walked over to Patrick.

"Patrick," Winry said slyly. "This is a good friend of mine, Fuhrer Mustang." She said. Handing Patrick over to Mustang and the MPS, Mustang smiled and replied.

"Hello Patrick. You are under arrest for suspicious activity in Lior." The MPS hand cuffed Patrick, but not before Winry objected.

"Be careful of his auto mail. I built it!" She went over and handcuffed Patrick in a special way that only a skilled mechanic could do.

"Winry, I don't understand. I'm your friend, right?" He glanced over his shoulder with a shocked look on his face.

"Sorry Patrick. I'm not in the market for murderous friends." She said. Patrick then sighed. She knew everything there was to know. The heist was up.

He looked over to where Emma was standing. She had a look of non-chalice. He knew she would never save him. Yet, all he did was protect her, go along with her schemes. In addition, her she was, using him yet again. He had enough of this crazy charade.

He was turning her in.

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"So, this Emma girl. Is she really your sister?" Mustang interrogated Patrick. Patrick had told him everything, but where Emma was. He did not know himself right now. HE told Mustang that she was a small girl who was bright, cunning, and sneaky. Patrick also noted that she was a one of a kind girl, and if you saw her, you would know it was she.

Patrick had also drawn pictures of Emma. He was an artist, and the pictures were quite good. Mustang was glad Patrick was on their side, but that would not lessen the punishment any less. Sadly, that was the system, unless they could prove Patrick innocent. Which they could not, and Roy still did not trust him. Patrick made him feel ill at ease.

'Wouldn't Emma be excited? The full Metal Alchemist, I saw him, and he is going to interrogate me after this bloke is done. How stunningly awful.

"Emma was my sister." Patrick sighed.

"Was?" Mustang prodded.

"Yes. She went on a trip, about 6 years ago, to enhance her alchemy. I'm sure that journal that is under possession of the Full Metal Alchemist and his brother would tell you everything you would want to know about her travels." Patrick recalled seeing the notebook, when the elder Elric brother had taken it out to examine something Patrick had said. After nodding and turning some pages, he had put the book back in his bag. This was during Patrick's earlier interrogation, by both the Elrics. Ed said that he would come back, after eating something and talking in private with Alphonse and Winry.

"And then she finished her trip?" Mustang prodded. Patrick had already answered these same exact questions from Ed, but he knew that is was to check the story. Analyzing and re-analyzing, it was all part of the process.

"Yes. I owned a grocer shop in Lior at the time, and she found me there. She quickly told me her plans to get the Elric brothers back." Patrick glanced toward the door. "And I guess she succeeded."

"You say she told you of her plans on an earlier basis?" Roy furrowed his brow, concentrating on the story, piecing it together in his mind. "She told you before she actually carried out her plans?"

"Yes. I quickly told Armstrong that there was some trouble out in one of the towns further east. I asked him if he would check on it. I also tried to get as many people out as I could, without telling them the reason."

"And why didn't you inform Armstrong of this threat immediately?" Mustang growled at Patrick.

"It would have caused a stir. People would have panicked, or they would not have believed me. If Emma got wind of what I was trying to do, she would have killed me. Then no one would have been spared." Patrick reasoned. Mustang nodded, understanding.

"So, I got as many people as I could out, and the rest perished." Patrick covered his hand with his face and cringed. He knew the people of Lior, knew how wonderful they were, and could be. He knew that his friends were just ingredients to open that stupid gate. He had always failed to understand what his sister had found so fascinating about the brothers.

Roy nodded. He understood this man's pain. "How did you lose your arm?" He asked.

Patrick smiled. "In the transmutation. I had watched Emma transmute some chickens, and then the transmutation started. I reached for my sister, and I got my arm taken off." He rubbed the hard metal and thought carefully. Should he tell Mustang what had happened to his sister, or wait and see if he asked. Patrick remembered rumors, stories, and the damage Homunculus could cause, and he was wondering if he should tell Mustang his worries that his sister had turned into a homunculus while she was on her trip.

"Patrick, do you know what happened to your sister?" Mustang prodded. Patrick continued his resolve to tell Roy his hypothesis.

"I think my sister turned into a homunculus." Patrick said slowly, with meaning behind his words. Roy's eyes widened in shock.

"Are you sure?" He said leaning in. This piece of information changed everything.

"It's a hypothesis, but I'm sure." He paused to look Roy straight in the eye. "The signs are all there. She looks like my little sister, but she could not be. My sister's soul, it was always visible," Patrick, pointed to his eyes. "Through her eyes. When she came back, it wasn't there." He paused to let Roy take in this information. "Also, it's a completely different person. My sister was kind, understanding, and a little timid. This new girl is nothing like my sister, and is opposite in every way." Patrick paused again, as if he was thinking. "But my sister did love the stories of the Full Metal Alchemist, hero of the people. After hearing about him for the first time, she studied alchemy. Then she heard that the alchemist she adored had died," He looked at Mustang pointedly, but Mustang just raised his eyebrows in an 'Oh, really?' manner. "She studied ways to bring him back. She was in central, attempting to become a state alchemist, when she saw the catastrophe. That is when she saw both the Elric brothers go through the gate. That is when she started impersonating state officials to get into the library for research. You had become Fuhrer, and she did not want anybody disrupting her infiltration of the military.

"She quickly found the information in the records." Patrick continued, with Mustang listening raptly. "And she started making plans to open the gate. She knew that if the gate would be opened on both sides, it would only take two people. For some reason, she thought a dozen chickens were equal to that on one side." Patrick stopped to think about how absurd his sister was. "I tried to stop her, but she continued, and Lior took the punishment." He leaned back in his chair, motioning to Roy that he was done.

"And you think that sometime during the 6 years she was gone, she turned herself into a homunculus?" Patrick nodded.

"I'm sure of it, almost." Patrick chose his statement carefully. "She wears so much clothes, I haven't had a chance to look for the Oroboras tattoo."

Mustang stood up from the chair, with Patrick following him with his eyes. "Thank you for the information. I will consult the other alchemist's, and we will get to the bottom of this." He looked at Patrick and smiled. "If we catch your sister, then we catch the culprit. You would be free to go, Mr. Patrick." Roy sighed and closed his tired eyes. "However, until then, you must be kept as a prisoner. My apologies, but we don't want you running off to your sister, do we?"

Patrick nodded. "I understand. But, if I may, I ask a favor." Roy raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I need documents to disown my sister. If indeed she is a homunculus, then she is no sister of mine." Patrick said coldly. She was a creature, not his sister.

He need be burdened with her no more.

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Omg, I love this chapter!!! REVALATION!!!!!!!! I totally enjoyed getting this out there, because there are people who are reading and loving.

However, I have a favor. I wrote over 3,000 words, and that's a lot. However, I want to know if there are any male readers/writers out there. It seems like only girls and I want to know.

In addition, do not lie because you think it is funny. It is not. So, have happy reading! I will try to get chapter 11 out before the end of this week, but I am going to record a CD and I will be busy with that. In addition, I have school, but still, I will try.