By this time, Envy had already arrived in Ishval and had been lying in wait for the escaped slaves to arrive. She had already searched for them in the surrounding ruins and found no trace of them. Little did she know that they were in Youswell and were starting to cross the desert. So she waited fruitlessly, slowly growing more and more frustrated.
Not particularily fond of the hot weather, Keith and Evan followed Selene to Youswell. They were raised in the Northern sector of Amestris, in Taffette. Taffette was a small town in the southern part of the Northern sector. It wasn't exactly freezing there, but it wasn't as hot as it was in the South East. They both trudged on, sweating a great deal.
Selene noticed they boys' discomfort and signed, "Sorry, the desert is even hotter than here. We need to make sure we have enough water so we don't get dehydrated."
"Doesn't it also get really cold at night?" Evan asked. Not that he was happy about either extreme heat or extreme cold. But both of the boys had to admit, issues with the temperature was better than dealing with Envy.
Selene nodded. "That's why we have blankets as well as water," she signed.
Soon enough, they were standing at the border, looking out at the miles of sand and Evan sighed. The young boy wasn't looking forward to the trek across the desert to the ruins of caravan they were going to travel with wasn't going to wait for them, so they had to keep moving forward.
As he was walking home from work, a doctor who worked at the hospital in Frontera passed the group and did a double take. Stunned to recognize the Xingese teen that had been brought in with several broken ribs that had vanished the day before. He ran over to the group and stopped them.
"Wait a minute!" he said, addressing Jian. "Aren't you the boy who left the hospital before getting discharged?"
"Hmm?" Jian replied, surprised. "Was I the only one that did that?"
"Normally people with flail chest won't be released until their injuries aren't life-threatening," the doctor said pointedly.
"But-" Jian started, but the doctor interrupted him.
"I'm taking you back to the hospital!" he almost shouted, turning to the group. "And I can't believe the rest of you didn't bother to bring him back!"
"He seems fine to me." Meili stated.
"Fine? Fine!? Flail chest is life-threatening! He could die if he keeps going around like this!" The doctor was almost yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Calm down," Tess said, "Just take a look at him, he's already healed partially."
"What!?" the doctor grabbed Jian, almost too roughly, and examined his ribcage in disbelief. "How is that possible?"
"Hey!" Jian shouted, pushing the doctor away from him. This doctor was already getting a scary look from Meili and Shay. "I'm fine!"
"But, how?" he asked.
"I used alkahestry to heal him," Tess explained. "It didn't completely heal him, but he's not about to keel over and die."
"I couldn't have been in very bad shape anyway if I could just get up and walk away." Jian added. "Are you sure my condition was life-threatening?"
The doctor stood there, dumbfounded. He didn't know much about alkahestry, and certainly wasn't aware of how useful it could be in the medical field. Noticing the incredible state Jian was in, he had to wonder why more doctors didn't practice alkahestry. It was certainly becoming more common since Emperor Ling Yao and Fuhrer Roy Mustang, a General at the time, opened up trade route between the two countries.
"If you thought he was life-threateningly injured," Joan began, "Then why did you check his ribs so roughly?"
"I thought...but he was..." he had trouble forming sentences. After a minute he registered Joan's question and realized how bad his mistake could have been. "Sorry!" he hastily apologized. "I guess I was, uh, so shocked a-about it. I-I didn't realize-I should have..." he stammered.
"You were so flustered that you didn't realize you should have been more careful?" Tess offered.
The doctor could only nod, unable to say so himself.
"Well, we should be going now," Joan said nervously. "We need to get to Central."
"Well, I guess I can let you go without taking you back to the hospital," he said slowly, attempting to compose himself. "I think I'll just continue home now." he turned and resuming his walk home.
Tess was trying not to laugh as she said, "Well, that was interesting."
While Jian normally would've joked about that whole thing, he obviously wasn't in the mood. Everyone else was stifling laughter desperately, but once the doctor was out of earshot, Tess was the first to crack. She burst into laughter, soon followed by everyone who could keep their amusement in check. The only ones not taking the situation humorously were Jian, Shay, and Meili.
Calming down a bit, Joan managed to say, "We really should be going. There's something I want to do in Central."
The State Alchemist had made a promise to Clarissa, and she intended to keep it. In Central, Joan would take Clarissa to see the President, in hopes that he would allow her to become a State Alchemist as well. Tess and Takara calmed down enough to agree with Joan.
"So, we take the bus back to Fortress Castell, and can take the train to Central from there," Joan said, mostly to herself.
Takara absentmindedly nodded, confirming Joan's comment about their route.
"The next bus doesn't seem to be for about an hour or so," Joan observed. "So maybe we can go get something to eat."
Takara's stomach growled loudly. She giggled, "My stomach agrees."
Laura nodded in agreement. "Mine does too."
Clarissa nodded at the idea of food.
"Alright, we'll go see what we can find," Joan said, looking at the buildings and hoping to find a good place to eat. She didn't know this town well, so she really didn't know where to look.
"How about here?" Joan asked as they approached a restaurant, not realizing how hungry she was until then.
"Okay guys, what do you want?" Joan asked as she sat at a table and looked at the menu, trying to decide what to order.
They all ate their food then simply conversed to kill time until they left to catch the bus.
The 8th Prince of Xing contributed little to the conversation as he tried to remember the last time he'd ever felt like so upset, but nothing came to mind. Maybe he deserved something like this, just so he knew what it felt like it. Still, he hated feeling like a failure.
Shay glanced at Jian. She had hoped he would have lightened up a bit by then, but she had to remind herself to give him some time. Like she blamed herself for Jian's kidnapping, the Prince blamed himself for what happened to Cai.
Normally, Jian would've perked up around the food, but this time he really didn't care. Anzhela looked over at Jian with a concerned face. She walked over to him. "Hey, how're you holding up?"
He shrugged, not really sure anymore. "Fine, I guess."
Anzhela gave him a concerned look. "You know, I know how you feel...losing someone you know."
He furrowed his brow, not sure if it was quite the same. "I understand what you're trying to say, but it's more complicated than that. You lost your boyfriend, and you have a right to be upset about that, but I..." he paused before continuing. "How can I be Emperor, and rule over the entire country Xing, if I couldn't even take care of one helpless girl that counted on me?"
Anzhela tilted her head at him. "But you need to do what you told me, don't dwell on the past. Focus on the course ahead," she said trying to help. "I'm sure you'll be a great emperor."
He sighed, she did have a point. But he still felt that the situation was different. He appreciated the effort to comfort him, but now didn't seem like the right time to him.
Give a small smile that didn't feel genuine to him, he said, "Thanks."
Shay pulled Anzhela away. "Thanks for trying to help," she said, clearly grateful.
Anzhela nodded to Shay with a small smile. "I'm just a bit worried for him."
Shaneka nodded. "I am too. I've never seen him like this before," she said.
Tess had pulled out some cat food and fed Ying while they were all eating. The cat had been in and out of sight frequently and was easy to forget about, since she mostly provided for herself and followed Tess around.
Pretty soon they hurried to caught the bus and Jian, yet again, sat on top of it with Meili and Shay. Joan almost fell asleep on the bus ride to Fortress Castell while Laura was quickly fast asleep.
Takara noticed it getting dark and suddenly realized, "Wait, when was the last time we slept?"
"Is it still the same day or is it a different day? We were in tunnels for quite a while," Tess wondered aloud.
"I have no idea," Joan said, rubbing her eyes. "I lost track of time."
"If it's the same day, then it's been a really long day," Tess said.
"And if it's not, then we've missed a few meals," Takara said.
"I think it's been a long time since we ate, even if it is the same day," Joan said.
"Yeah," Takara said. "Good thing we ate a big meal before the bus came."
Tess stroked her cat as her thoughts wandered to Selene's group and Envy, wondering if Selene had changed their route or if they had still gone to Ishval. She hoped that they hadn't run into Envy again. If they did, it more than likely wouldn't end very well. But it was more likely that Selene had compensated for the new information and gone someplace other than Ishval. She certainly hoped so.
On the top of the bus, the Prince's thoughts wandered. Doubting his ability to do what he was born for, he was suddenly wondering why Meili had betrayed her clan to help him. At the time, he had been grateful for the change of events, but he was no longer so sure.
"Meili, why didn't you kill me like you were ordered to?" Jian suddenly asked the former assassin, forgetting about his intent to hide that particular information from Shay.
Surprised but not showing it, Meili stated, "We've been over this Prince, my motives have changed."
"Yes, I know that, but what made you think I could become a good Emperor?"
"You think of what the people need more than the Yu clan's prince does."
Jian countered, "There is a difference in thinking about what they need, and being able to provide it."
Meili wasn't sure how to reply, hoping he wasn't going where she thought he was. Finally she said, "That's why I'm helping you."
Shay frowned when Jian started talking to Meili. "Kill him?" she thought when she processed his first sentence.
Glancing at Meili, she suddenly thought back to when she was fighting the assassin back in Xing. As the other assassins raided the Palace and abducted the Prince, a single assassin stalled the bodyguard. The opponent had been a very skilled female assassin. Clad in black attire that now looked suspiciously similar to what Meili wore. She had wielded two katana as well. The assassins nose and mouth had been covered, but her hair had been styled exactly like Jian's new bodyguard as well.
"It's you!" Shay screamed as she pointed at the ex-assassin, suddenly realizing the identity of the assassin responsible for keeping her away from the Prince in his time of vulnerability.
Realizing that Shay had finally recognized her, though she hoped the bodyguard wouldn't figure it out, Meili played dumb. She wanted to avoid a fight, if possible. The two were more or less equally matched when the ex-assassin wasn't trying to kill her opponent. But now that they were on the same side, protecting the Prince, killing Shay would have to be avoided.
"What are you talking about?" Meili asked, very convincingly acting confused. She was a skilled actor and lied well enough to almost convince herself that her lies were true.
Jian looked equally, though genuinely, confused. "Shay? What are you talking about?" He only had vague memories about what had happened in Xing when he was abducted, since he had been barely conscious at the time.
"Don't you dare play dumb with me," she growled, drawing her katana. "I know who you are, assassin!""
Meili sighed, "The Prince already knows that." Unworried, the ex-assassin knew she could hold off the bodyguard's onslaught of attacks if they came.
Shay glanced over at Jian. "You knew this, yet you didn't think to tell me?"
"I knew how you would react." Jian shrugged. As he slid down the side of the moving bus, he informed them, "Now, if you excuse me, I think I'll get on the bus while you settle things."
Shay had screamed loud enough for the others to be able to hear her from inside the bus.
"What's going on up there?" Joan wondered aloud.
"Who knows," Tess shrugged. With Takara dozing off beside her.
Anzhela added, "Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing."
"I would suggest we go check it out if we weren't in a moving vehicle," Joan said, partially joking.
"Yeah, that might not be the best thing to do," Tess smiled as she imagined climbing out the window of the moving bus to investigate.
"We'll ask them about it when we get to Fortress Castell. It shouldn't be too much longer until we get there." Joan decided.
"As long as they don't kill each other before we get there," Tess joked.
Joan laughed. Then said, "They wouldn't kill each other... would they?"
"Nah, I doubt they would kill each other," Clarissa said with a chuckle.
Turning her head to look out the window, Joan was surprised to see Jian tapping on the window rather than the expansive landscape of Amestris. When he motioned for her to open the window, the State Alchemist complied and Jian jumped in and took a seat. Joan waited for an explanation, but one didn't come.
The bus driver just happened to glance back as Jian was climbing through the window. Startled, the bus driver swerved and almost drove off the road before correcting himself. The swerving woke up those who were asleep.
"What just happened?" Takara asked, suddenly wide-awake as he heart thumped against her chest from the scare of the swerving vehicle.
"Jian just climbed in the window and it startled the bus driver," Tess answered, chuckling.
"I don't blame him for being startled," Joan said, startled as well.
Takara gave Jian a weird look and she inquired, "Why were you climbing in the window?"
"How else was I supposed to get inside?" He bluntly answered with a question of his own.
Takara looked like she was about to say something, then decided not to and just sighed.
"Who was shouting up there?" Tess asked.
"That was Shay," Jian replied. "She just found out that Meili was an assassin. She seemed to know Meili like they've met before, but I don't know when".
Tess thought for a minute. "Didn't you mention that before Shay joined the group?"
"Yeah," Jian confirmed. "I didn't tell her because I knew that something like this would happen. But I guess I let it slip."
"Do you think they'll try to kill each other now?" Tess asked, trying not to laugh at the irony of her earlier joke.
"Maybe," Shrugging, he certainly hoped they didn't try or even succeed. He could tell them to knock it off if he had to, but he doubted how effective it would be. Shay could be pretty uncontrollable when she was angry, she had even attacked him once when he pushed her a little too far.
"Hopefully they don't hurt each other," Takara said, looking a little worried.
"Hopefully," he agreed.
"You're not going to try and stop them?" Joan asked.
"Not yet. Shay probably needs to work out some anger. She obviously has something against Meili, I just don't know what."
When the sounds of running and conflict were prevalent, everyone except Jian look up as if to see what was happening even though they could not see through the roof of the bus.
Clarissa glanced at Jian, wondering if he was going to interfere soon and Laura waited with wide eyes. But Jian didn't plan on interfering yet, Shay still needed to calm down and he didn't intend to stop her while she was still on attack mode. If he did, she might have gotten mad at him too, for not telling her about Meili in the first place.
Instead, Jian waited to see if the attacks would subdue and the fight would end, since he was able to sense their chis and was able to tell what they were doing. Maybe once they stopped, Jian would ask what Meili did that was so bad, because he was curious. The ex-assassin had tried to kill him, but he already knew that. But Shay had seemed furious with Meili in particular.
Joan waited silently for Jian to say or do something. The silence, not counting the fighting from above, was getting awkward.
Tess, able to sense the fight like Jian could, wondered how much longer it would last. She thought, "I wonder if they will stop fighting before or after we get to Fortress Castell."
Takara only heard the footsteps and other noises coming from the fight and wondered about how they could stay on the bus while fighting.
Shay glared at Meili, thinking about what had happened back at the palace in Xing. She hardly got this mad, but when she did, she struggled to control herself. Rushing at the ex-assassin, she slashed at her head. The furious bodyguard didn't care that Meili could avoid that wild attacks easily, just attacking made her feel a bit better.
"I'm going to kill her! She ruined everything!" She screamed in her mind. She tried to ignore the fact that there had to be a reason Jian had allowed Meili to stay.
Focusing solely on defense, Meili didn't try to fight back. She didn't want to fight Shay, but Shay definitely didn't feel the same. Because the bodyguard had a right to be angry, Meili let her attack. The ex-assassin had only been part of the plan to abduct the Prince. Some other assassin could have done the job she did, they didn't even have to be as skilled in fighting as Shay, they only needed to distract her long enough for the place to succeed. Meili just happened to be one of the best assassins the Yu clan had, second only to the leader. Determination got to her second best, second-in-command. The determination to make the ones who took everything from her pay.
Eventually, as Shay calmed down, her attacks weren't just wild and uncoordinated, they became focused and more precise. If Meili had been fighting back with the aim to kill, the bodyguard would have been dead since the beginning of the fight and almost anytime in between. But now that Shay was calming down, there were less blatant openings.
Tirelessly advancing against Meili, Shay used the forward motion of the bus to her advantage by using it to propel her forward in her attempt to land a solid, kick aimed at her opponent's face, backed with a fair amount of momentum.
Meili side-stepped out of the way to dodge the attack. Like Shay, she could see ways to use the motion of the bus to her advantage, but refused to take the opportunities. Used to being on the offensive, defense felt weird to her even if she was no less skilled at it. As the fight became more serious, she had to resist the temptation to fight back with full force. The urge to kill had been a part of her for most of her life, drilled into her mind until it was almost an instinct. The longer the fight went on, the more it felt as if she was battling herself more than she was defending herself against Shay.
It seemed to be a reverse form of her training to the ex-assassin. When she first started at the age of five, she trembled at the thought of death and struggle do to force herself to kill, to ignore her instinct to love others. At that age, her face was soaked in tears more often than she'd care to admit, but she hadn't shed a sincere tear, laughed or smiled genuinely, or even scowl, for many years. Her childhood was pitiful, instead of going out to play with the friends she might have had, she murdered without remorse.
The former assassin began struggling to resist the openings she found in Shay's form. But the enraged bodyguard must have seen this as a sign that Meili was having a hard time fighting against her, and pressed on more fervently. As Shay stubbornly refused to let up her onslaught, Meili decided that the fight either had to stop, or she had to get away from it. But jumping off the bus and leaving the Prince wasn't a viable option. She had promised him, even more important than that, she had promised herself that she'd help him become the next Emperor.
Each passing second became harder for Meili to resist taking any openings to her target. As Shay's attacks became less sloppy, Meili began to think like an assassin again. She continuously had to remind herself that Shay wasn't a target or an opponent, she was an ally. If she left like she knew she should, she would look weak, and she couldn't bear to look weak again.
Taught under very strict circumstances, Meili had become the image of a killing machine. If she made one wrong move, showed one unnecessary emotion, her weakness was punished until it no longer existed. She learned to watch death, cause death, and think lightly of death. So she forced her thoughts to twist into a monster, a harbinger of death, in her effort to get what she wanted. But to get was she truly wanted, she needed to unwind twenty years of twisted knowledge.
Over the course of her training, killing became art. Every stroke stained her canvas and added to her picture. She dumped buckets of blood to create it, yet didn't realize she had been blind. But with her eyes opened, what she found she created was not a picture she liked. To paint her new masterpiece, better than the one before, she needed a clean canvas.
Even though fighting made her feel better, Shay knew she should stop. But part of her felt like she could redeem herself this way, even though that wasn't the reason she relentlessly attacked. She wasn't fighting for honor, or even for Jian, she was fighting because she was simply angry at herself for failing.
Deep down inside, she was screaming at herself to stop, but it was like she had locked that part of her in a sound proof cage and pushed it far away from herself. She wasn't listening to reason anymore. All she knew was her attacks, one after another, becoming more focused as she slipped away from her emotional side, and became the emotionless fighting machine she had trained daily to become. The sound of her blade swishing past her as it struck towards Meili. The footwork. It was a dance, a deadly one, and Shaneka knew every move. The sound of her own breathing and heartbeat was the music, and she danced around the roof of the bus.
Meili had felt weak and insignificant when she was young, but forcing herself not to attack Shay was equivalent to forcing a small child to carry a heavy load.
"Which makes me the child once more."
With that thought ringing through her mind, Meili let Shay push her to the edge where Jian had jumped into the bus through the still-open window. Once close enough, she quickly slipped through and shut the window behind her, leaving Shay alone on the roof.
"Coward," Shay thought as she watched Meili slip away. Immediately after the thought entered her mind, she corrected herself as she shook her head, "No, she's not a coward. She's just smart."
Sheathing her katana, she sat on the top of the bus in solitary. Eyes closed as she enjoyed the wind blowing against her face, Shay realized she was no longer angry when reason returned to her mind. Reviewing the fight in her mind, she realized why Jian trusted her. The look in the ex-assassin's eyes had changed. When they met at the palace, Meili's eyes had been little more than empty voids that sought to fill themselves with bloodshed. Never before did she see anyone with so little life in their eyes. Only now did Shay realize that emptiness had no been there, filled instead with purpose and drive, and a struggle to change.
As she reflected, she realized that the whole fight had been fueled by guilt. She frowned and, even though she tried to suppress the memories, the fight in Xing returned to her. Suddenly, she felt the tear on her cheek and quickly wiped it away.
"Thank you Meili. I was able to release all of this pent up emotion. You probably know better than anyone that wild emotions can be deadly in our line of work," she thought as she stared up at the clouds that drifted above her.
Sifting through her feelings, Shay stayed on the roof of the bus with no way inside anyway. For the moment, she decided to trust Jian's judgment while quietly building her own opinion of the ex-assassin. Though her trust was still shaky, part of her wanted to go as far as to befriend Meili. There were many things she knew Meili could teach her, and perhaps there were a few things Shay could even teach her. But if they were going to guard the Prince together, it was important they trusted each other.
Clarissa glanced over at Meili as the ex-assassin slipped inside. "Xingese people are strange," she murmured to herself.
Meili ignored Clarissa's comment, reflecting on the battle she escaped. Not the one against Shay, but the one waged against herself. No doubt Shay thought she was running in an act of cowardice, but Meili had to stop before she succumbed to her former ways. If she had lost her inner battle, the one-sided fight with Shay could have ended badly.
"So how'd it go?" Jian asked. "Did you guys work everything out?"
Meili thought about it for a minute before replying, carefully examining what had happened, "I believe so."
Though she was no stranger to lying and deception, Meili genuinely meant her words. With some time to cool down and think after releasing her frustration, Shay would no doubt come to trust Jian's judgement. The ex-assassin could say the same about the heir of the Yu clan, Xie Yu. She might deceived herself into believing she could, but his motives were selfish. It was difficult to believe he has hidden it well enough to convince the entire Yu clan, but now Meili owed Jian for opening her eyes to the truth.
They approached the bus station before Meili even had a chance to sit down for awhile. She did notice that Jian seemed a bit more lighthearted than before as he hopped to his feet.
Noticing that they were almost to Fortress Castell, Tess sat up and stretched. Sitting around for a while tended to make her a bit stiff, especially since she was used to getting plenty of exercise.
Clarissa sighed happily as they neared the bus stop. She was tired of sitting, and was getting stiff. "How does Joan sit here this long, with those legs of hers?" she thought curiously as she watched Joan sit up.
Seeing everyone else do it, Takara started stretching as well. After living most of her life as a slave with people telling her what to do, she was still trying to get used to making decisions on her own without people always ordering her around.
As the bus pulled came to a stop, Clarissa stood up, ready to start moving around around again. She didn't like staying in one place for very long, not since what happened to her brother.
Laura stretched and yawned. "Ugh, that was a long bus ride," she mumbled.
Clarissa smiled, "Oh yeah, it was way too long," she agreed.
Anzhela silently agreed and looked back at Jian, still worried about him.
Shay nimbly jumped off the bus as it came to a stop, then quietly waited for Jian to join her. "This is going to be interesting," she thought.
Meili and Shay silently glanced each other, their gazes meeting just long enough to agree.
A/N
I enjoyed this chapter. Getting deeper into Shay and Meili's characters was fun and made for some great wordplay. Editing was not easy though. It switched between the parties on the roof and in the bus too much, which I had to fix. . But, I still like this one. My favorite one so far, if I do say so myself. I enjoy Meili's character. She's kinda like Spock, stoic on the outside, but has some inner turmoil to come to terms with. Personally, my favorite characters are the Xingese ones, they just have more personality and interesting backgrounds.
Anyway, please tell me what you think if your reading this.
