dont own fma stuffs jusy my OC's
Kay, so I'm super sorry its been forever. You can whip out your torches and pitchforks if you want :)
Thank you all for bearing with me, you're awesome!
State of Flux
Chapter 10
When Ava and Al had finally managed to return Rush valley back to its original state, they met up with Ed and headed back to Garfeils shop to see Winry. Al seemed convinced that Ed wasn't going to see the light of another day.
Ava, exhausted, trudged into the shop first, hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket, dragging her feet as she walked in. "Man, my get up and go has gone up and left." She yawned.
"Please, if you think today was hard, you've got another thing coming." Ed smiled coyly at her, his detached and pretty much destroyed automail arm slung over his shoulder.
"Hey, if you want to keep your ticket to learning alkahestry around, you gotta' stop saying things like that. The way this crazy battle and cryptic conspiracy laden trip has been so far, you're lucky I haven't run for the hills yet!" She joked and snapped a wink at him.
"Hello we meet again!" All three of their heads turned and furious expressions possessed Ed and Ava's faces, Al seemed genuinely shocked. Ling sat comfortably sipping tea across from Garfeil, offering a smile and a little wave in greeting.
Ed must have moved at the speed of light, before Ava could blink he had closed the distance and whacked Ling over his head with his busted metal arm. "What's your sorry butt doin' here!" Ling fell off the chair and thudded to the floor.
"I'd really hoped we'd never see this guy again." Ava grumbled, Al patted her back with all the gentleness one would use when handling an unstable bomb.
Ling laughed nervously; "Now, now, we're all friends here, right?" he pulled himself back up.
"That's how you treat your friends? By sicking your dogs on them? Those two didn't go easy." Ed glared daggers at the boy.
"Let it go," Ling smiled back, "I promise I'll give them a talking to later.
Before Ed had a moment to retaliate Ava calmed her boiling temper and asked as calmly as she could, "So who really are those two anyway? Why in the world are they with you?"
"The girl's name in Lan Fan, the old man is called Fu. Their family had served mine for generations. They're quite good at what they do." Ling explained.
"Oh, so you shake down strangers for food, yet you can somehow afford two personal attendants?" Ed wasn't buying it.
"Well," Ling said shrugging, "I am the emperor's son after all."
Ava put her hands on her hips and cocked her head, "There's a twist."
Ed and Al exchanged a startled look, "Well, that makes you… A prince?!" They completely and utterly lost it, fell to the floor giggling. Ava did her best to keep it together but was laughing too, despite her efforts.
Ling stared at the brothers perplexed, "Not the reaction I anticipated."
"Sorry!" Al turned and through the giggles tried his best to be apologetic. "We just didn't see that coming!"
"Yeah, the guy who collapsed on the side of the road and mooched food off of us is the son of an emperor." Ed added before a dagger lodged itself into the wall right beside his head. He and Al stopped laughing all together and stared at it terrified, Ava just laughed harder from the look on their faces.
"You will not speak badly about master Ling." Lan Fan peeked up from under the window fuming.
"Great to see you." Ed muttered.
"No your probably right, it's not actually that big of a deal." Ling chimed. "It's like this, the country of Xing is broken up between 50 different clans."
"Oh, oh, oh a history lesson!" Ava pulled out a chair and sat happily, ready for this story.
"With an emperor at the top reining over all of them," Ling continued. "The daughter of each clan's chief becomes one of the emperor's wives and bears his children." He crossed his arms. "The current emperor has 19 daughters and 24 sons. I come in at number 12 in that lineup."
"Oh holy hell." Ava leaned back, streatching her arms above her head and looking to her friends. "Ed, al, the way you two bicker, I could not imagine having to put up with 40 more of your brothers and sisters. I would shoot myself."
Ed glared. "Thanks."
"The issue of succession must be a tricky one." Al commented, clearly ignoring Ava's comment.
"Indeed it is." Ling held up a finger. "That's the problem were facing right now. The emperors health has begun to deteriorate recently. Each clan is doing is doing everything they can to curry favor." Ling smiled "And I'm no exception."
"You wanna' up your chances by discovering the secret of immortality." Ed gathered.
"Exactly! Now, the philosopher's stone, what information can you offer?" Ling asked cheerily.
"Not this again." Ava rested her head on the table top.
"Not happenin'" Ed turned up his nose. "The stone isn't a tool for some political gain."
Ling moaned unhappily and jumped from his seat, wrapping his arms around Ed "Then I'll have to stay with you until you tell me!" He whined.
Ed was obviously not pleased with the unwanted contact, "Oh no you don't!" He smacked Ling over and over with his busted prosthetic. "Get offa' me you-"
"I'm back!" A happy female voice called.
Ava lifted her head and looked at the door. "Hey Winry!" She waved.
"Hiya Ava! Do you guys see that? There was some kind of fight on main street." Winry smiled then turned to Ed, who was frozen with fear with his mangled steel arm hovering over Lings head. Her happy composure decayed into fury. "What did you do to my arm!" She raged, throwing a heavy wrench at Ed's head. It knocked him back flat on his butt.
Winry tinkered with the automail arm, and ava worked on stripping some of the wiring that remained dangling from the remaining metal stub connected to Ed's shoulder, so it would be quick and easy to reconnect Winry's final product when she was finished.
"Wow Ava, I didn't know you where an engineer too!" Winry smiled fiddling with some gears.
"I'm hardly an engineer; just an apprentice and I haven't been doing It for very long. Just a few years." Ava twisted some of the frayed ends. "Most of the time my nose was stuck into some book about alchemy or alkahestry, anything really."
"Either way, it's cool to meet another girl with an interest in automail too!" She grinned at Ava then turned her attention to Ed. "So where are you head off to break your automail next?"
"You just assume I'll break it?" He muttered, defeated.
"Can you blame her?" Ava looked up at him and raised a brow, a little coy smile on her face.
Ed frowned then shrugged, "Guess I really can't"
"We were thinking about doing some digging in central." Al answered.
Winry whirled around excitedly "You guys are going back to central? I wanna' come too, take my with you!" She pleaded.
"Yes! Ed, you have got to let her come, I need someone to talk to that's not such a hothead." Ava tugged at his shirt.
"What do you wanna' go there for?" Ed asked trying to push Ava away.
"I wanted to see the Hughes family again." Winry clasped her hands together.
"But don't you have a lot of work to do here?" Al reasoned.
"It's okay if you want to go Winry you should take a break everyone and a while." Garfeil reassured her
"Oh really? Thanks so much Mr. Garlfeil!" Winry was glowing with excitement.
"Alright! She's in! I've got some questions for this Hughes guy, well go straight to him when we get there." Ava pumped a fist into the air.
"Well I've got to work extra hard then, so I can get this finished by tomorrow." Winry turned and when back to diligently working on Ed's arm.
Ava capped the last remaining wire and looked over her work one last time, "Yup, good as it's gonna' get for now, the rest is up to Winry."
"Not half bad," Ed looked it over. Ava stood and grabbed her pack from where it sat in the corner. "Where are you going?" Ed stood stretching.
"I'm headed over to see if Roger is at the shop." She started heading for the door.
"Hey, wait up, I'll come with you." Ed followed, then looked at Al.
"Go ahead, I've had enough adventure for one day." Alphonse waived his brother on.
Ava and Ed headed out to the street. The sun was setting, the sky was all sorts of red's and oranges, it was very pretty actually. But with every step some little part of her in the back of her head was worrying about Roger. It was so unusual that he wouldn't be in.
When she and Ed approached the shop, she could already tell that there was no one inside. No lights on, no open sign, no Roger.
"Man, what the hell?" She peered into the window like earlier, as if it would shed some light on anything.
"Where else would he be?" Ed eyed the dark storefront with his hands on his hips.
"Dunno, at home maybe? He's normally here though." She placed her hands on the door knob, transmuting the lock into a simple lever mechanism, so she wouldn't need the key to open it.
She opened the door slowly. "Hello?" She called into the silence.
She walked in followed by Ed, "Maybe he's just in the back?"
"Good thinkin' Ed," she pointed to the storeroom. "Can you check in there, I'm going to look upstairs?"
Ava ran up the steps quickly, opening the door to her little home. "Nothing, Damn…ow!" Her side flushed with pain from the exertion. She held it tightly and walked around scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary, she picked a book off of her shelf. She heard Ed coming up and looked to the door. When he entered he shook his head.
"Weird, not even a note." Ed shrugged then noticed her obvious pain. "Are you doing alright?"
"Just really sore," She sat the book back on the shelf and pulled her shirt up enough to see the wounds progress. It looked really ugly. It was still closed thankfully, but she could see the bruising under the skin, from the actual slash a good inch or so around it was a deep bluish purple.
"Should you go see a doctor?" Ed hurried to her.
"No, it's fine, things like this always look their worst before they get better." She sat down on her sofa Ed sat across from her on her bed. She was quiet for a little bit. You best be visiting family or something Rog.
"Al was really excited about what you showed him last night." Ed said softly, sensing her worry.
"Oh, he was?" She laughed a little, looking at the ground "I'm glad I could give him some solace."
"He was kind of upset that you got hurt looking for him." He motioned to her side.
"Well he better not be blaming himself." She warned flatly. "I'm fighting because I want to. Because there are things I need to accomplish. Just like you two."
Ed thought for a moment "What are you trying to accomplish?"
"My father's research is far more extensive than what I have here. There is a whole room filled with his academic collection in my old home. In the later recollections he starts to mention ways in how he believes you can break the equivalence system. Where you can give less and receive more. Or if there's a point where you give enough, you can receive forever." She looked down at her hands. "There are parts on the philosopher's stone and human transmutation. I think he really found something out. Something serious that made him completely mad. I only know what I do from reading his journals. When you read them it's almost like watching someone slowly go insane. In the beginning it's all for knowledge, then it turns into something more, darker. It's eerie, I wonder if maybe one day I'll turn into someone like that too."
"I don't think you could ever be someone like him, Ava, you're not like that at all." Ed said in a scolding tone.
She breathed deep and sighed. "I hope your right." She ran a hand through her bangs, "Ed I have a favor to ask of you."
Ed seemed a little taken off guard. "Yeah? What do you need?"
"As a state alchemist, you have the access to information otherwise classified to civilians." She looked at him intensely.
He stared back and sat up a little straighter. "Ava, what are you getting at?" His eyes narrowed.
"My father served as a mediator between the Ishvalens and Amestris military before the war. I have a gut feeling that he was a little more involved with the military than certain records depict. I want to know what's in his file in central." She needed information, always searched for more information.
"I'll see what I can do." Ed rose to his feet and stood in front of her. "Just be careful Ava, some things are better off not knowing."
"Thank you Ed." She looked to her lap. It was calling her again, that feeling, screaming from the dark corners of her mind, soaking into the cavity in her chest and filling her with nothingness. She felt like she wasn't real. Like she could lift right out of her mind and let the body she was in just wither. Her hands trembled and she grit her teeth together. This internal darkness was the worst emotional poison. She closed her eyes to battle the writhing in her head.
"Ava, are you alright? I'm sure Roger is fine." She heard Ed say and a hand gripped her shoulder.
"I'm okay." She whispered shakily. "Let's get going, I'm sure their wondering where we are by now." She shook her head, trying to shake the feeling, but it didn't really help. "I just need to leave a note for Roger."
"Sure, I'll meet you outside." He started walking down the stairs, "If there's anything else you think you'll need I'd get it now, who knows when we'll be back this way." She nodded and started scribbling on a piece of paper.
"Ugh, again with the trains!" Ava said flatly as she boarded the morning train to central, followed by her friends. She took to a seat and slid over by the window, Ed sat next to her and Winry squeezed in by al on the adjacent bench.
Though they didn't board the train, Ava was aware of Lan Fan, Fu, and ling nearby. There were indeed fallowing them to central. Damn.
"Didn't you say you used to ride trains all the time?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, but it's completely different when you're riding in an open boxcar, watching the landscape go by, taking in the sunset. Not to mention, trying to run from the security when the train finally pulls into whatever station it's headed to." She smiled in remembrance.
"Sounds like a hoot?" Ed raised an eyebrow at her.
"Best time of my life! So far at least." She pulled off her jacket and tucked it between her head and the window. She nestled herself in the corner comfortably.
"You should tell us about some of those adventures you must have had." Winry piped, Al nodded in agreement.
"Well, I dunno where to begin." She looked down trying to think of a good place to start.
"From the beginning?" Ed put his hands behind his head and leaned back.
Ava sighed, "That's a story for a different time and place." She got quiet.
Al noticed her discomfort with whatever memory that brought up, "That's alright! Hey brother," Al changed the subject and they all took part in another conversation. She was grateful, it wasn't a happy beginning, and she didn't want to spoil the day with grave tales of the past.
The ride was long and exhausting, Ava hopped down to the platform stretching out her legs, they felt all wobbly from sitting for so long. Ed and Winry tried to work out their kinks too.
"I'm beat!" Ed said through a yawn.
"Being spied on for hours will do that to you," At looked up at Fu and Lan Fan who were perched atop the train.
"Hey, where's the young lord?" Fu asked, concerned. The four looked around the station and saw no immediate sign of him.
"He's not here." Al answered.
"Maybe he ran off again." Winry said with a finger to her chin.
"He probably got a whiff of some food." Ava adjusted her back pack.
The two body guards where clearly upset by this. They lowered their heads and sulked for a moment. "Good grief I can't take my eyes off him for a second." Fu grumbled, then they both took off in either direction, franticly calling for Ling.
"What a relief! Let's go," Ed started to walk away.
They walked out of the station and out into the heart of central city. Ava felt to out of place. Huge buildings, tons of people, seemed like every fifth person was in uniform. The shaky weird feeling she had since she left the train never really wore off. Maybe it was just nerves about being in a new place. But that wasn't like her at all. She tried to brush the feeling off.
"Alright guess we should visit the military offices first." Ed stopped at looked back at them.
"Right." Al nodded.
"Okay! Let's go find this Hughes guy!" Ava rubbed her hands together.
"I guess I'll head straight to the Hughes's house and let them know I'm in town."
"Sounds good, we shouldn't be all that far behind you." Ed turned and Ava fallowed but Winry grabbed her arm and started dragging her off.
"Gah! What are you doing!" She tried to get her footing before she kissed the concrete.
"No way! Your comeing with me, you have to meet Miss Gracia and cute little Elicia!" She didn't lighten her grip.
Ed laughed and waved. "Well catch you up on details later!" he called after her.
Ava waved back halfheartedly then wriggled from Winry's grip and walked along side of her civilly. "So Gracia and Elicia, they must be Mr. Hughes' wife and daughter?"
"Yes, they are so nice! They gave me a place to stay last time I was here." Winry led her into the market district. Ava was overwhelmed with the amount of people around and the food and goods for sale.
"Wow, this city is so busy." She looked around, trying to keep up with the blond haired girl.
"Yeah, seems everyone is always on the go, always has something to do." She stopped at a farm stand and Ava helped her pick out some good apples.
"I guess that's a good way to occupy time." Ava said looking over a piece of fruit.
"Ed and Al never seem to stay in one place for long either, sometimes I wish they'd just kick their feet up for a week or two, so at least for a while I'd know they're not getting themselves hurt." Winry started to fill her basket.
"Hey," Ava tossed her and apple, she caught it. "Those boys are strong but they are lucky to have someone to worry about them like you do. I've seen first hand that they can take care of themselves, they're up against a lot right now, but for what their taking on, there's no better combatant than them."
"And you." Winry smiled and handed the basket to the woman working the stand and she weighed them.
"What do you mean?" Ava asked as she handed the lady a single apple, paid for it and took a big bite.
"Al told me, you were strong, like him and Ed." She headed down the street. "But you're more calculated and thoughtful, and you think with your head and fight with your heart."
Ava choked on her bite, "He sai—whaa?" She swallowed carefully.
"Yeah, in a nutshell. I'm glad they found you, you can be my eyes and ears with those two, they never tell me anything, but it seems that they already trust you enough to rely on you to help them in their decisions."
"I guess…" She took another bite of apple.
"They're like my brothers, and I don't have a lot of family left, so keep them safe. Promise?" Winry looked at her with a sad smile.
Ava smiled and squeezed the blonds shoulder, "I promise."
Eventually, Winry led her up the stairs of an apartment building and knocked on a door and waited patiently. The girls could hear the quick footsteps of a child, the knob jiggled and turned. The door opened and a small, adorable, little girl called frantically, "Daddy?" She looked so sad when she saw Winry but hugged her legs desperately.
Ava looked at Winry who looked terrifyingly confused, Ava put a hand over her mouth as a pretty woman with short light brown hair appeared in the opened door, she looked so tired and wary, but tried very hard to be level and smiled at the girls. Ava could tell that something awful has happened to this poor little family.
"Hello Winry." She said fondly, "Are you a friend of hers?"
Ava moved her hand to her side and bowed politely, "Yes, and of the Elric brothers. My name is Ava Ellistone, pleasure to meet you ma'am."
"Ava? Ava Ellistone?" Her faced was consumed with a whole different set of emotions. She rubbed her eyes and took a better look at her. "Girls, why don't you come in so we can talk."
They all walked silently and sorrowfully into the living room and took a seat. Winry and Ava sat together, little Elicia hugged Winry closely and wouldn't leave her, Gracia sat on the adjacent sofa.
"Winry, Maes was murdered while you were in Rush Valley. We tried to reach you but couldn't. I'm so sorry you didn't know until now." Gracia sat strongly, hands folded politely in her lap. But you could see how fragile she was in her eyes.
"There is nothing you need to be sorry about." Winry stroked the little girl's hair and she snuggled closer. Ava's heart was breaking for them. "But why? Why him?" Winry sobbed.
"We don't know exactly." Gracia said still keeping herself together. "Ava…" She looked toward the black haired girl with that odd expression again.
"Yes, Miss Gracia?" Ava was gripping her pants tightly, trying to keep herself from tearing up.
"Don't you remember me?" She gave a small smile.
Ava was confused, she cocked her head a little, "No, I'm so sorry, but I don't, have we met before?"
"Maes and Roland used to be friends back when we were first dating; we used to visit when you were young." Gracia kept waiting for her to remember. "Cora and I used to take you out to the pond to feed the fish?"
For Ava, hearing those names were surreal. "Roland and Cora Ellistone?" she was blown away.
Winry looked between the two, the little girl peeked out. "You knew her parents?"
"Yes," She seemed even more saddened "Maybe you were just too young to remember."
"No! No it's not like- I lost all my memories from before-" She wasn't sure if she should bring up the subject of people dying right now.
"The incident;" She wringed her hands, "When we heard about what happened, Maes and I tried to find you but we couldn't."
"You, tried to find me?" Ava gripped her pants even harder.
"Yes, we were going to bring you to live with us, but you were gone. Any information Maes tried to look up after was all classified. We tried, Ave we tried." She looked at her pleadingly.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm alright. I'm so touched that there were people out there who were thinking of me. That alone just does so much." She clutched the front of her shirt, her heart was so strained it felt like it was going to rip right out of her chest. "Ave?" what did she say?
"Yeah, like a nickname. Your mother and I used to laugh about it. It was shorter to say but just as long when you spelled it out." She smiled a genuine smile. "Kind of silly, isn't it?"
"No, it's nice, nice to know things like that." Ava smiled. "Miss Gracia, I came here intending to ask your late husband how it was he knew of my whereabouts. It's a little clearer now, but the method in which he knew my exact location is a mystery to me. He contacted the boys while they were in Rush Valley and told them about my being there, that they should find me."
Gracia smiled, "He was still looking for you, after all these years, he had your named flagged on any post that would run through central mail, or any sort of public data base, so that if it showed up, he would at least know you were alive. I remember him saying, not long after he met Edward and Alphonse, that if only he was able to get his hands on some of the research that Roland had done, that there might be something there that could help them, he was planning on taking a trip to your old home in the coming months. But it seems that he found the next best thing, you."
Ava was shaking. There was no way she could be angry, any questions she was ready to grill into Hughes when she found him, where just meaningless now. This man, that was looking for her and wanted to help her, was able in his last few days on this earth, to find her, and in doing so, helped Ed and Al on their quest too. She couldn't entirely grasp this whole situation yet, but she was trying.
"I ordered parts for the shop from a supplier in central about four or five days before I met the boys. Just long enough for them to be shipped and processed and for Mr. Hughes to be informed of my location, because of the return address on the box. What crazy luck that Ed and Al where in the same place that I was." Ava was rocked to the core, she looked at Winry who seemed like she was also trying her best to understand the current information, but gave her a warm reassuring look, and it helped. Ava took a deep breath just as a few light knocks rapped at the door.
Ava was slumped forward with her head in her hands, letting it all sink in. She glanced up at the door to see Ed and Al. "Ava, Winry," Ed nodded in their direction. Then he turned and spoke to Gracia, "Um, Miss Gracia, there's something I'd like to speak with you about, if I may."
"About Maes?" She asked the clearly upset boy.
"That's right, you two as well," He looked toward Ava and Winry and they met his glance with an understanding expression.
Ed and Al took a seat in the living room, Gracia took the now sleeping little girl and held her lovingly in her lap. The three listened carefully to what Edward had to say. He explained how Hughes was looking into information for them on the philosophers stone, that he must have uncovered something important, something meant to be kept secret and he was murdered, to keep that information quiet.
"So his death was a message, a warning to you to back off from all of this." Gracia stared looked down at her sleeping child.
"Yeah, we basically dragged him into it." Ed said solemnly. "I'm sorry, so sorry." Ed fought tears.
"That would be just like him," Gracia sighed. "Dying while trying to help somebody else. 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."
"But we…"
"Don't tell me you're going to give up. You can't let what happened defeat you, that would mean my husband died in vein. Even if the philosopher's stone is a dead end, there might be some other way. That's why he brought you and Ava together," She smiled at Ava and turned her attention back to Ed. "Her father's research might hold some other key. You just have to keep moving forward."
Ed looked at Ava a little confused, "Maybe your right." He said to Gracia, but nodded at Ava, locked in her eyes. She figured that he realized getting ahold of her father's file would be less of a favor and more of a necessity. If she and Hughes believed there was something in there, there must be.
Thank you for reading! I hope this didn't feel to rushed it was all written in spurts, I didn't get any consistent time to do this chapter. But please drop your thoughts, love hearing 'em.
Peace!
~NDG