Bluebirds Illusions - Pride, the deadliest sin

Chapter 11 – Reflection

Germany 1923

"You are such a jerk!!"

"Well you're being a bitch!!"

"Hitoshi, don't call your little sister a bitch!!"

"She's your little sister too and you know how she is!"

"How what am I?? And would you quit calling me your little sister! It pisses me off! After all, this 'little sister' of yours is paying for your food, and clothes on your ungrateful back!!" exclaimed Aminna, her eyes wide and furious.

Ryo Tsumang or shall I say Roy Mustang watched three of his younger siblings, Yuudai, Hitoshi and Aminna argue over something that was absolutely trivial, and as usual it snowballed into a catastrophic yelling match between the three of them, mostly Aminna and Hitoshi hollering at each other, doing all they could to viciously rip the other apart from the inside with hurtful, below the belt remarks, while Yuudai did his best to moderate the two young, hot-blooded teens. It was almost habit by now and it hardly fazed him anymore as he watched them impassively.

"You are a disgrace to this family Nanami!! You continue to work with uranium even though you know how it killed Takeo and Eiji! And hell, you basically did in Yoshi all by yourself too!!"

Aminna's jaw dropped as Hitoshi dealt her a very low verbal blow. He had even refused to address her with her new namesake. "Working at the factory might not be the most humane job in the world, but it's all I can fucking do!! If you got a problem with how I run MY life, or pay for YOURS then why don't you get out of my face, get up off you're lazy ass, get a job yourself, move out of here, and let me do my work.

Before Hitoshi could retort Aminna stormed out of the kitchen, her extremely long red hair whipping behind her back. Her smaller but full framed body was rigid with anger. She made her way towards the door leading outside in a heavy huff, pushing past Kiyoshi who was just entering the room as she was leaving. Kiyoshi tripped over himself, almost falling to the floor in a desperate attempt to get out of Aminna's deliberate beeline. He gave a questioning look towards his brothers as though asking with his eyes what had happened. Roy and Yuudai just shook their heads as Hitoshi stormed up the stairs to his room in the opposite direction.

Even though Aminna was only in light cotton shirt and thin pants she didn't feel January cold as uncomfortably dry wind blew unforgivingly across her body, bringing a few snowflakes to fall into her tangled hair and whipping the excess material of her clothes. "That guy…I hate him…" she mumbled under her breath. Her fists were clenched in anger. "Ungrateful…" She shuttered more from anger than the chill. "My life makes his possible…." She held her scowl and paced down the streets without direction. "Thihiso – damn, I won't call Hitoshi Thihsio if he won't call me Aminna…"she grumbled. "He doesn't know what he is talking about." She shook her head vigorously. She was absolutely steaming.

Hardly anyone was out. Most were trying to hide from the weather. Only a few partial drunks were outside a pub, obviously doing all they could to drink their worries away. There were some others buying food at a marketplace that was across from her house. She hardly noticed, only hearing the common complaint of how ridiculous the inflation upon their mark was.

"My family is sick, starving and there are no jobs at all! What am I supposed to do!!" exclaimed a man by the market. Apparently he had just been caught trying to steal food. "14 marks for a piece of fruit!! I can't even buy enough to feed my family!!"

She looked down, watching her every step with a solemn expression as she paced along the cracked street. Her eyes dulled as she heard the police closing in on the man.

"Please!! I have family!!" he hollered. "They'll starve without anything to eat!!"

Aminna shut out the rest of it. She didn't want to hear these suffering people. It was disgraceful what Germany had been reduced to. They had once been one of the most affluent, industrious and powerful nations in the world, but now, now they had been reduced to the point of absolute desperation. Aminna felt no loyalty towards Germany, just like she felt no loyalty to her deceased German mother - or anyone else for that matter, but her pity for the country as a whole would not subside. Suffering for those who were not accustomed to it was something worse than the most agonizing death.

She continued down the street with nothing but the howling winds in her ears to keep her troubled mind company. Her eyes stayed unfocused, regarding every detail of every nook and cranny of the roadway but never truly seeing, only to be left with a feeling of emptiness, just like she always did when out on the crumbling streets of Berlin.

She didn't know how long she walked for, she had lost track of time. The sun now lay about an hour before sunset. Ryo would definitely be furious with her when she returned. She had never been out alone this late before. The Berlin streets were dangerous, she knew that as much as anyone, but she still couldn't muster enough sentiment to really care. Stories of abductions, killings or even rape were almost common conversation, especially for young girls wondering around alone just like she was now. But she was confident that she could defend herself…she was not so helpless. She realized that the road she had been pacing was now completely clear and barren, without the faintest sound to be heard. She stopped in midstride with a feeling of forbidding that had just come over her. She had unintentionally made her way towards the factory where she worked on rocketry. Now she was less than a block away. It was strange. A foreign feeling began to grow inside her, as though some exterior force had pulled her there. The fierce wind subsided almost eerily, nothing moved or even made the faintest sound. The street was dark and fog was spreading, seeping into every corner of the street. The light cast from the still working century old streetlamps was bent and absorbed by the thickening smog. She could hardly see in front of herself. Something was seriously off and it was then that she knew she was being watched. It sent a shiver through her spine. 'Damn it...' she thought angrily. It was as though fate was laughing at her. Just moments before she had been brushing off the thoughts of abduction and rape, whereas now it looked to be far too real of circumstance. The silence was deafening. She did her best to keep her senses sharp, and alert.

'What have I gotten myself into now?' She narrowed her eyes in concentration. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. She did her best to keep her breathing even. 'Their hunting me again aren't they? I am being targeted for my work with atomic bombs…I knew they'd find me...just like last time. I didn't think they'd be this quick to get to me in Germany though. This really isn't the best time…. How could I be so careless?' she scolded herself. Aminna grasped the hilt of one of the daggers that she always carried with her under her outer layer of clothing just for sticky situations with this. She hoped that her being left-handed would throw her followers off slightly; it often did.

It came before she could react. She heard it before she saw it. A loud bang and the piercing whistling sound of bullet cutting through the thick air, she turned and a heavy, blunt force hit her hard on the back of her head and again on her mid back. She could feel the pain shooting throughout her entire body, and the blood making its way down. Everything went black as she felt herself falling towards the cemented road. A crushing feeling overwhelmed her as she crumbled onto herself. She knew she had been tricked. A bullet aimed near her to make her turn and someone to knock her out just as she left herself vulnerable for a split second. Anger boiled over as she fell into her unconscious state.

When she started to come to she didn't know how long she had been out for. Aminna could feel that her hands were tied painfully, tightly behind her back. She was leaned against the wall of a dully coloured but distinguished looking room and was bruised all over her body, not heavily, but enough to cause her a fair amount of discomfort. Her eyes swam in and out of focus, making her dizzy, but she could still tell that she was completely surrounded by many full-grown men who were sitting at a large table in the middle of the room. Her head throbbed as though hit repeatedly with the blunt end of a shovel. She withheld the urge to retch.

"She's up." said a man who she couldn't quite make out. He was sitting at the table that was in the center of the room.

She was lifted up from her waist by a man who she couldn't see. He was taking far too much liberty while grasping her form but she bit down on her lip to keep quiet. If her brothers had been there the man would have surely been beaten to a pulp in an instant for handling her so audaciously. He was rather rough with her and was surely giving her a few more well deserved bruises. He smelt fairly heavily of alcohol. The other men in the room looked far more refined. She was shoved upon an old unsteady chair at the side of the head of the long table where most of the men were sitting. There must have been around ten to fifteen of them all together. There was also one darker skinned, rather attractive, though harassed looking woman who was sitting amongst them with a hardened scowl on her face. It was clear that she was not there by choice.

"Untie her hands." said an old, hoarse male voice that came from her side.

She turned her neck to the side and was surprised to see a man sitting almost directly beside her. He looked as though he was in a similar predicament as herself, though his hands were free. He held them clasped in front of himself, heavily scarred. He looked worn and exhausted. She could tell that he had been tortured.

A soft feminine laugh came from behind her.

'…another woman…' thought Aminna.

"Very well Hohenheim. Even though you are in no position to give orders, I don't really see the harm in it." said the lady as she came into view in front of them. She was a major contrast to the men and other woman in the room, all of whom were wearing dark suits, most with darker hair and features. This other woman, who looked to be in charge, was wearing an odd sort of white suit with overlarge shoulders. Her hair was with thick and it came around her shoulders in a paler colour. She had an odd look about her. Her expression looked kind enough, with a soft smile but there was something off with her. Aminna had seen than look in other's eyes before, including her own and she knew that it wasn't to be trusted. She kept her wary eyes fixed on this woman.

Aminna heard a few footsteps coming from behind her and her wrists were unbound. She kept her face impassive, gazing them all with forced indifference. She was already doing all she could to plot her escape.

"My name is Dietlinde Eckhart." said the woman in front of her.

Aminna made no move to reply, only gazed at her with a dull expression. 'I've heard that name before…'

Dietlinde paced towards her with an unreadable façade. "It isn't polite to ignore." she said softly. She was circling her like a predator does its prey.

Aminna still didn't make a move.

Dietlinde's eyes darkened knowingly. "I had hoped that your Rhine River Valley mother would have taught you some manners even if your father didn't."

She bit down on the inside of her lip to keep her own façade. 'So this is about the atomic bombs…that's what their after. They obviously know about my German mother's disgrace and marriage to a Japanese physicist who was researching the bomb.'

She frowned and turned around, facing the woman who was sitting at large table. "This is the girl right Greta?" she asked sharply.

"Yes-s, yes, she's the girl." she stuttered. She looked utterly petrified.

"She doesn't look Japanese at all. She's a redhead? With Green eyes? She has no reaction about the mention of her parents. I knew it was far-fetched and only followed through with it because the Führer said you were one the best. Now are you certain?" demanded Dietlinde. Aminna scowled inwardly, they were talking about her as though she wasn't even there.

"Yes I am sure." Greta replied shakily. "That's her." Dietlinde frowned but nodded in acceptance.

Aminna's head was spinning. 'What is going on here? How is that woman supposed to recognize me, I have never seen her before in my life! This is ridiculous!' she thought. 'I'll play this one out and see where it goes.' she took a calming breath, and leveled her gaze. "Who are you people?" she asked. "What do you want with me??"

The muttering started rippling all across the table before quickly quieting down again. Dietlinde turned back to face her. "You aren't going to worm your way out of this one Nanami Tsumang. Don't you pretend now." she said smoothly. "You should know by now what we want with you. I have been told that this isn't the first time that you've been taken hostage. I also don't plan on letting you escape like you did from all your past capturers."

"Nanami who? That isn't my name." she squeaked innocently. 'I want to know how they found out who I am damn it.' she thought. 'Well really, Nanami Tsumang isn't my name anyway, as of now it is Aminna Mustang.'

Dietlinde took a step towards her, bent down so they were nose to nose and slapped her hard across the face. Aminna almost fell off the chair just from pure shock.

"I don't stand for liars." she said with eerie calmness. "It's in your eyes. You are not an innocent, young girl. You are the daughter of Eiji and Tara Amuse Tsumang. If the soothsayer says so than it must be true."

Her eyes widened. 'Soothsayer?? What is going on? So their Führer is depending on fortune tellers now?' she thought with a frown. "What do you want from me?" she demanded.

"Right to the point now, that's more like it girl." she said pacing up and down the side of the table.

Aminna bit down on her lip to keep from protesting and glared daggers at her.

"It isn't really what we want you to do, forcing you, or anything of the sort, I would prefer to call it…equivalency…" she said coming to a deliberate stop. She raised her hand to silence the continued murmuring.

She forced herself to keep her expression impassive. 'Equivalency my ass…'

"We have discovered that there is a rat within one of our own." said Dietlinde. "By that, meaning that there is someone within the factory who opposes us and our objective as well as your own with uranium and atomic bombs; yes we are the head of the factory where you work. We are inside the factory was we speak." she said in response to Aminna's surprised expression.

"You want me to take them down."

"Catch on quickly girl." she nodded in faint approval. "However we have come to know what has happened within your infamous past and the Japanese Government, and many other organizations have already offered us large sums of money for your return."

"Plan on blackmailing me?" she asked in a stoic voice. 'Their plan is all coming together now. How am I going to get out of this one…?' she thought, her brain was working on overdrive but she still couldn't find a way out. They had planed it perfectly.

"Right again. Exactly." she said nodding.

Aminna scowled. "You are doing secretive and most likely illegal operations, someone was sent here to infiltrate it, most likely rightfully so, and you don't want to dispose of them with the blame on you, so when you found out my history you decided to use me as a pawn." she said through gritted teeth. 'I have to get out of here.' Her eyes were scanning the entire room, looking for something she could use in escape.

Dietlinde's eyes darkened. "Pawn isn't the best word and your analogy of right and wrong is purely opinion based, but in general, yes that is what we want…or rather, what we demand." her voice boomed. She watched Aminna look over the room. "We will offer you up to the German Government if you don't do as ordered, you cannot escape from here, don't even try, we have guards at every exit, and even if you did manage to get out of here we have your entire family under surveillance. If you vanished we'd just take them instead."

She went stiff. She might very well have no alternative options. She looked Dietlinde directly in the eyes. "Fine." She mumbled. "You said equivalency. What will you give me in return?"

"Protection from all those who hunt you…and you have many."

"What if I am caught?"

"You won't be, and if you are we have enough influence to allow you to work here while serving your sentence."

"If you have such authority why don't you kill this rat yourself?"

"You ask far too many questions girl." She crossed her arms and frowned at Aminna. "If a murder was traced back to this organization we'd be abolished. If you are caught we can blame it on your history and because it would be viewed as a crime against Germany the German Government wouldn't allow you to leave the country anyways."

It had all fallen into place. She had finally been cornered, caught without any visible escape. It was as though a bomb had just gone off in her brain, exploding before dulling all her senses. 'This is the end of the line for me isn't it?' she thought morbidly. She was jolted back to the number of people who were in the room. For the most part they had been quiet the entire time that she had been there. She looked down at her lap, sighed in defeat. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

Dietlinde smiled. "Kill them." she ordered stopping directly in front of Aminna.

"He's on his way. He just left his house." said the lady soothsayer in a soft, quavery voice.

Dietlinde nodded towards the man beside Aminna. "I am glad to see that you have held up your side of the deal Hohenheim. He is coming then."

The cold was unforgiving. He rubbed his automail arm that was beginning to get irritably stiff. Where his automail attached to his skin was becoming painful with the early January weather.

He bit his lip, trying to hold back a wince, and set his eyes dead ahead. The factory where he Al, Aminna and other leading physicists worked was very close. 'What is that old man up to now? Why did he want me to go to the factory tonight? Has he really gotten a way to send me back home?' he thought narrowing his sharp golden eyes. 'This had better be good.' The streets of Berlin were barren and lifeless other that the alleyways which he was avoiding as well as he could. The nights in Berlin were tough for the many without homes, those who had lost everything after the Great War (The Great War is what WWI was called before WWII started). To die of famine or everyday sickness was far more common than most other Europeans would suspect. The inflation put upon the German mark was on the verge of ludicrous, and just to eat was a constant, never-ending struggle. Edward pitied the slum of Germany. He couldn't however be distracted with troublesome pickpockets or desperate hookers. He was going home, and although it would be thought of as selfish to others; he had better things to do. He had a place where he belonged and his own personal desires were beyond care for the world he had been living within for the past three years. While here he only allowed himself miniscule attachments, Alphonse being at the heart of it. Alphonse Heidrich was the one person whom he had grown exceptionally fond of while in this strange world. Well…he'd admit that he was rather taken with Noa as well. He got to know her fairly well, and enjoyed her company very much. Then again he couldn't forget about Mister and Misses Hughes. Also, meeting the Tsumang/Mustang family was very interesting, and he had gotten to know Aminna a little bit during the short time that she had worked at the factory with him. He liked rocketry too. Maybe it was almost as special to him as alchemy.

He stopped abruptly in midstride, shaking his head to rid himself of his thoughts. "Stop it." he scolded. He felt childish for reprimanding himself. Sighing, he continued on his way. 'I am going home. I have to, no matter what has happened these past few years I have to go back if not for me then for Al.'

He lowered his gaze. The streets just were like the buildings were cracked, looking long past repair. Germany was crumbing from within and there was nothing anyone could do about it, after all they had to pay for damages of the Great War and who knows how long they'd be forced to suffer for that. 'This country is strong, they'll survive.' he thought offhandedly but then he remembered all the anger and bitterness that had been growing steadily in the years that since he arrived. Ed knew it was going to overflow soon. 'Hitler…that damned extremist has been gaining a lot of support recently.' he thought frowning. 'Germany is desperate…but still I don't think they could allow such a person to ever gain power. It would be better to die that to force another terrible war on the world with someone like him running it.' But in his heart he knew it wasn't true. People who didn't understand the consequences of their actions would do anything if driven to the point of desperation. His eyes softened upon remembering his own attempt at human transmutation. 'I didn't understand what I was doing and I am still paying for it.' he thought looking down at his automail arm and leg with a saddened, sheepish gaze. He frowned at remembering Mr. Hughes wearing the Nazi armband. 'He is a good guy. Just too damn naïve to understand what is really going on with that political party. He has to stop supporting them. He has to learn to just bear with what is going on and persevere somehow.' He sighed heavily. He knew that it was too easy for him so say. This wasn't his world.

He had finally come within a hundred meters of the front entrance to the factory complex. He sighed. "This world was fine before I came and will be fine long after I am gone."

He didn't even try the front doors. They would be locked. 'Old man wants me wants me to go inside does he?' he thought. His eyes quickly scanned over the building looking for a way in. 'Window I guess?' he thought, he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Why can't I ever just do things the easy way?" he mumbled grumpily under her breath.

He took a deep breath and looked ahead, eyes focused. "Let's see if I still have it." he said with his trademark smirk. He knew how he was getting in. He took a few steps back, clasped his hands together as though doing an alchemic transmutation before sprinting at a dumpster that was at the side of the building. He jumped up, landing a little awkwardly with his knees extremely bent on the echoing metal top before pushing off immediately without loosing any momentum. In mid-air he reached up as much as his smaller framed body would allow before grasping onto the ledge of the window. He winced as his real hand clenched over many shards of glass on the window frame. He let his real arm fall limp at his side. He could tell that his hand was cut deeply, blood already covered his hand. He looked down a couple stories from his place hanging on the side window before quickly pulling himself up with his unhindered automail arm.

He groaned lightly as he pushed his way through the remaining glace earning himself a long, thin facial cut on his upper left cheek. "Damn it…" he winced. "This had better be worth it or else I swear I am going to kill him." he grumbled once he planted his feet firmly on the ground.

He could hear someone or something moving in the factory area, a level below of where he was. They were light, quick steps, nothing like his fathers. 'Could it be a trap?' he thought suddenly, his eyes widening. 'I haven't seen the old man in over a year then he just calls me out of the nowhere, refuses to tell me where he's been, and asks to meet him at the factory…could he have been held hostage or plotting his trap of his own?' With his father's history he knew that either seemed like a high possibility. His face hardened. 'If it is a trap then I'll spring it.' a sly smirk forming on his face. 'Just like old times eh?'

He bit down on the inside of his cheek as he took out as many shards as he could that were imbedded in his hand. He made his way down the corridor, making sure to make the least amount of noise possible, but he could help but think that his steps were like booming drums that echoed from the stale concrete to the entire building.

He reached the end after what felt like an eternity and had to fight to keep his usual cool. This was no more dangerous than anything else he had ever done so what was making him feel so anxious. Was it the possibility of returning home? He didn't know. He looked out a glass plane that showed the lower factory levels and he saw something that he had not expected in the least. 'Aminna?' he thought surprised. 'What the hell is she doing here?'

It was strange, her body language looked very awkward, and it was sending off completely contradictory messages. Her pace was tense, quick and agitated, while her back was uncharacteristically slumped over and her eyes were dull and empty, making her look as though she were in desperate need of sleep. 'What's gotten into her?' She was making her way out of his line of sight. He looked around himself before finding a set of stairs that descended to the main level. He bolted down them without a second thought. He went flying through to the base level as fast as anyone, including himself would have thought possible. He came around the corner and was facing about thirty meters away from a rattled, wide-eyed Nanami. She must have heard him coming, and thought that he was some kind on intruder. Her back was facing him. She was hiding behind a piece of machinery and had a broomstick clasped tightly in her hands.

He saw her immediately. It took all his will power not to taunt her. She looked beyond comical. "Aminna…I can see you, get out of there."

He heard her terror filled gasp. Ed frowned. He was starting to get a little worried. He didn't know what would make her so afraid.

She stood up and faced him, about fifty meters away. It looked like she was going through some inner battle. Her face was contorting from confusion, to shock, to absolute frozen in fear panic. She was petrified. 'Him?? Ed?? What is going on here? This can't be right. There has to be a mistake. Ed can't be the person who opposes Thule society…he can't be the person who I am supposed to kill…' She couldn't move. 'Ed wouldn't, he would never have plotted against me…' It was getting hard for her to breath. She stood, rigid to the spot. She couldn't move.

"Aminna?" asked Ed taking a step forward. "What is it?" his words echoed loudly throughout the factory. He began making his way toward her. "Are you hurt?"

Her eyes widened as he came towards her. 'I have to get out of here.' she thought. 'I can't do this.' She clenched her eyes shut, turned on her heel and ran as fast as her feet would carry her.

"Hey!" called Ed. "Wait, stop!" He began sprinting after her. 'What the hell is going on here?' She skidded around a corner, and Ed followed her right on her heels. 'Damn it she's really fast.' He gritted his teeth and went for her, advancing a little bit each step. He heard her make a distressed sound. She could tell that he was catching up. She looked over her shoulder at saw that he was hot on her heels.

'Where am I going to go?' She ducked under another piece of machinery but she tripped over a low beam and she felt her feet being take out from underneath herself. Ed had caught just up. He basically tackled her in her fall, grabbing her around her midsection, turning in midair so that he would connect first with the floor, and get the brunt of the impact. Ed collided hard with the ground, getting the wind knocked out of himself, but refused to loosen his hold on her struggling form.

"Let me go!" she protested. She managed to get one of her arms free and elbow him in the stomach. He grabbed it in his automail hand, but then she got her other arm free with which she reached inside the bottom of her shirt and pulled out a small dagger. She had it pressed to his throat in an instant.

Ed froze, eying her with sharp eyes. If she made a move against him he would crush the arm that he was holding.

"Let me go Ed." she said in a quiet voice.

"What is-"

"Let me go!!" she hollered, her breathing beginning to labour.

He glared at her, his face darkening. He relinquished his grip and slowly pulled away. Aminna relaxed her form and Ed took advantage. He immobilized the arm that held the dagger with inhuman quickness before she had a change to recover.

She made a low groaning sound before unexpectedly kicking Ed at a pressure point in his side. She wormed her way out of his grasp, got up and began to run again.

Ed swore under his breath and took after her for a second time, keeping her dagger ready at hand.

Aminna frantically looked around the cluttered area. 'I have to hide.' She knew that he was faster on a straightaway. She swerved around a corner, turning down another a couple meters later. She was lengthening the distance now. 'Damn it…' she thought after seeing that she was almost at the wall of the factory. She turned yet another corner but this time she slipped on the damp floor. She cried out and fell hard to the tough concrete floor, skidding on her side until she crashed into a wall, knocking the breath out of her.

"Aminna!" he called. Ed came up behind her, bending down beside her, but still making sure that we wasn't too close. He wasn't sure if she had another dagger hidden somewhere. One of her pant legs was torn and she was bleeding from her leg. The back of her shirt was party torn open too and her back was marred with many shallow cuts, it was beat red and seared as though skinned.

Aminna gritted her teeth, the pain was overwhelming. 'Damn it.' she thought. Stars were still exploding in front of her eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked. He placed the dagger behind him, out of her reach and hesitantly came to a kneeling position beside her. He could tell that she was hurt, and was in no position to make a move on him.

She didn't answer, just wincing harder.

He knew that he wasn't good with helping injuries and stuff and he really wanted to know what had been going on but he wisely choose to put off interrogating her, at least until she recovered for a minute or so.

He helped her sit up and took off his coat, covering her scraped, half-exposed back with it before leaning her back up against the wall. "Either I bring you to a hospital or you tell me what the hell was going on just now." he said moving back from her.

Aminna shook her head, fighting a hard fight to get back to the light. "No…I'll be fine in a bit. Give me a second…" she mumbled. She closed her eyes. Her head was still spinning a bit. She tried to withhold the urge to retch for a second time that night. She lifted a hand to massage her throbbing head.

"Hold it." said Edward suddenly, his voice sharp. His hand shot out to grasp her arm that she had just raised. "Bruises…"

She bit down on the inside of her lip to keep from saying anything. 'Oh no….' she thought worriedly. 'What do I tell him?' She would either have to kill Ed or she'd be killed by the Thule society, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to kill Ed…she could tell him what happened and get him to play along with a staged act against Thule. "Must have gotten them when I fell…" she mumbled.

His gripped tightened slightly, and pulled her arm towards him. "No you didn't. You didn't fall on this arm and you wouldn't have gotten bruising this fast anyway." His eyes narrowed at her. "What is really going on here? What are you hiding and why did you pull a dagger on me? What was that all about??"

"Nothing." she said snatching her hand away from his grasp.

"Nothing my ass Aminna. You had a dagger to my throat a minute ago, and you expect me to accept that answer?" he bit back. He moved closer to her, his eyes widening in anger at seeing her also marred other arm, back and neck. "Tell me what happened to you. Why do you have bruises all over your arm?! I can now see them on your back and neck too! Who the hell did this to you Aminna?!" he demanded.

She winced at the loudness of his voice. Sighing, she let her neck fall limp.

He made a low growling sound. "Look at me!" he demanded. He reached forward, and raised her chin to make her look at him in the eye. "What happened!?"

She sighed, staying deathly still for a couple seconds before suddenly grasping his shoulder at lighting speed with her less injured arm. She could feel his body stiffening under her touch. "Listen, don't say anything and don't move." she said in an extremely quite voice, even Ed had to lean forward more just to hear her. He was almost nose to nose with her now. His eyes widened in surprise. He hesitated for a moment before nodding half an inch.

She started. She decided that was going to tell him most of what was going on. "The Thule Society who runs this factory captured me and ordered me to…" she then reached into the bottom of her shirt with her free hand and pulled out another short sharp dagger just like the one that she had used on him a couple of minutes. She raised it to just above his chest. Words didn't need to be spoken. She had been ordered to kill him. She put it back in its sheath. "I was to take down whoever came to the factory tonight. I didn't know it was going to be you. They have my family under surveillance. If I died they'd just make one of them do it later." She scanned the factory from over Ed's shoulder. "I am sure they are watching us somehow." she said in just of quiet of voice.

Ed's eyes widened in shock. 'Hohenheim…that bastard…he set me up.' His blood was boiling now. It took all his will power not to destroy the entire factory looking for the bastard old man, but he knew now that they were most likely being watched by the Thule society or whatever they were called if they had tried to blackmail Aminna into killing him. "The-" but he was stopped when Aminna put a finger to his lips, and gave him a sharp look, she still couldn't hide the fact that she was deathly frightened. He returned her sharp look. He was going to ask her this one question. He reached up and pulled her finger away. She looked petrified, her hand tightening on his shoulder. She shook her head. Her breathing became a bit more laboured. She thought that they'd be able to see him if he spoke. He frowned at her and brought her own finger in front of her mouth. She bit down on her lip and finally gave a small, curt nod. "They're making you do this because of your history with atomic bombs aren't they? That's how their blackmailing you isn't it?" he asked.

Her eyes widened again, first in shock but then quickly turned to anger. "How d-!" Ed clasped his hands over her mouth, and didn't let go until she stopped struggling, which wasn't for a while.

'What is going on here? Could Ed really be hunting me for working with uranium bombs? Was the Thule Society actually telling me the truth?' she thought worriedly. When he had finally removed his hand she told him about what Thule had said. "They told me that that the person who opposed their society was also hunting me and that in killing them I'd be helping myself too. I just had to do it because they didn't want your murder being traced back to them. If I am caught they could just blame it on my past." she whispered snappishly. "But is it true Ed? What they said? I didn't believe them."

He lowered his gaze. 'I didn't want to confront her about it like this.' he thought. He quickly clasped a hand over her mouth again. She instantly looked betrayed. She was struggling and couldn't get him to loosen his grip. He could feel her begin to tremble. She must have thought that he was going to kill her. "Just listen to me will you." he hissed. She gulped, and looked as though she were fighting back tears. Her shuddering subsided and she nodded into his hand. "Yes, I wanted to keep you close because of your work with uranium. If you were working at the factory I knew that you weren't helping to make an atomic bomb, and I could find out more about your past. I was planning on confronting you about it in soon, just not like this. I would never have hurt you though, never." he said looking at her with deep honest eyes. "Tonight I was told to come here by my father, he said that he could help me with something if I did, but obviously it looks like he's framed me. I did not come for you."

She nodded again into his hand again, which he removed slowly. "Okay Ed…I believe you." she said was a soft, strained smile. "We can't talk more about the atomic bombs issue now because we have got to get out of here, and the only way is through Thule. They have guards at every doorway, and are probably watching our every move, and they'll only reveal themselves once they see that one of us is dead, or if they sensed betrayal."

Ed nodded. "Okay so…one of us has to pretend to kill the other?" She nodded in agreement. "I'll pretend to kill you okay. My father won't believe that I've been killed by you…no offence. If it looked as though you've killed me he'd definitely know that we were faking."

'He's a pretty cocky, and normally that's not a good thing when you're so puny…' she thought lightly. "But if they see that I am dead they'll just charge right after you and kill you right on the spot, or get one of my brothers to take my place."

Ed frowned at her. 'It's not like I can't take them.' He thought vainly, but he couldn't make her bring her brothers into this. "Okay fine. I'll fake dead but if they see through it I am going to take them out."

"Okay Ed. That sounds good for me." she said smirking. "Now how exactly are we going to do this…?"

I have gotten a beta, Akai Ouja and they've been helping we proof over what I have written so far. Chapters one to four are redone to perfection while five - ten have are in progress. I am no longer going to be posting any review replies on the actual fanfiction page. I have been recommended to send replies personally rather than clotting the story which I completely agree with. All my notes will now be after the story and I will do my best to make them shorter and more to the point.

Side note, I added in the soothsayer because Hitler was an avid believer in fortune telling as some people would have probably realized with the Thule Society being so interested in Noa.

HOW BAD WAS INFLATION IN POST WWI GERMANY?? Well here is the answer. In nineteen fourteen an American dollar was the equivalent of four German marks. In nineteen twenty-three an American dollar was the equivalent of a trillion German marks.

This was because Germany in the treaty of Versailles Germany was declared the cause for WWI and in effect had to pay for ALL the damages of the Great War. As a country already on the verge of bankruptcy the only solution they could find was to print off money like crazy, thus making the worth of the mark drop continuously, and it quickly became a small fraction of what it was once valued at. This resulted in hyperinflation which means that prices of everything would literally rise by the minute, even second. Because of this people who were lucky enough to find employment were paid twice or more daily because what you would make in the morning of one day would be worthless by the end of the same day.

As prime example citizens of Germany, including some of my ancestors burned their marks ('mark' is the name of the currency) in their fire places because it was cheaper to burn them than to use them to buy firewood.

Something to ponder for the next chapter – what can you conclude about Aminna's parents because of their names?

much love,

temariXshikamaruluva