AN: I don't own FMA or any related characters - and I don't own the pink lunchbox as well. I just own the idea.
Attention! Time skip! Some ages are given in the chapter but for more information...
Riza, Serena: 31
Jade, Phil: 32
Roy, Maes, Nerissa: 33
Cai, Laila, Nick, Victoria: 13 - not 12, sorry!
Owen: 16
DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympians: That was... sad.
Ava: I know but it will be better this time … I guess
Poor everyone... I hate to see them so broken and miserable like that...
Jade: I hate it too.
Victoria: Me too!
Sira-the-Awesome: Sorry, but I'm too lazy and traumatized to login...
Ava: That saves me the tiem I would need to remove the hyperlink
*cries* Everyone is so hurt... Oh Ava, why? I mean it was good, but it sort of wrenched my heart.
Victoria: Where Ava lives, it rains since days and she gets a little bit depressed these days
I promises Ben and Liv a gift on depressing chapters, but I think the only thing I feel lime givingnis embroidered hankercheifs...
Roy: I need them … be-because it rains, yes!
So, get well soon Ava. No cheer for today, but I still love you. Sleep well!
Ava: Thanks^^
CallousVulpix: What the hell? How did I miss a chapter! Ugh.
Ava: Blame it on the internet just like everyone else too^^
I only have 5 more days of school left, so I should be able to review regularly for a while.(Though I seriously need to write my valedictorian speech. That'll be a long night!)
Ava: Five days? I need to go one more year :(
I'm sorry for not reviewing sooner today, but Wednesday is when I spend time with my Dad.:/
Ava: It's usually the day I stay up longer than usual because me and my dad talk for hours^^ it's usually very … inspiring^^
Tomorrow I will write a long chapter concerning everything that I deem important that has happened.(If I'm not bone tired and ready to sleep since it will be the weekend.) Yes, these have been wonderful chapters, time just seems to get away from me though!
Ava: Until tomorrow and have a nice day!
mangagirl135: Bejesus. You people need to stop getting hurt. Otherwise I shall be forced to jump head-first into Ava's wonderful story and kill you all for freaking each other out so that they get all crazed and then get hurt/sick/bad test grades because of it! Jeez. You shall stop getting seriously injured.
Victoria: Sorry
Jade: I am so, so sorry!
Nerissa: Me too!
Nick: Ditto
Serena: That's what I wanted to say!
Comprendes? That's Spanish, by the way. For Do you comprehend/understand? I hope you do.
Serena: I am the language genius, duh
Don't make me kill you all. It wouldn't even be an exciting battle because you're all incapacitated. *sigh* Anyway, fabulous work on the chapter, Ava. I can't wait to read the next one!
Ava: Aww^^
P.S. I hear the rumors of your death are greatly exaderated.
Ava: I always die trice^^
kroutonrex: JHGSAIYGDKJSGADFH EVERYONE WENT OUT AND NEARLY DIED ON ME! DON'T DO THAT YOU CRAZY FOOLS OR I'LL FINISH THE JOB! *gets shovel*
Nerissa: Things like that happen, you know?
The beat was fast and Jade prided herself of being able to do her push-ups in the rhythm of the music. Sweat ran down her face but her breath was steady. It had been four months since she had been sent to hospital, right after the failed mission, and that was why it had been four month since she had done her daily workout. She got up and brushed back a rebellious strand of her hair before she grabbed the bars on the ceiling and pulled herself up before she started to do her usual thirty pull-ups. It surprised herself that she could still do this even with being in hospital for months. She had lost weight and that made it easier for her to lift herself up. She had known about the disastrous state of her body but until now, she hadn't been bothered by the way her black nightgown was too big for her.
Jade was a good fighter but her true passion was dedicated to codes, so she had been worried about her mind when she had been brought to the hospital. She had neglected her body for weeks and now she had to pay for her own foolishness – just like it should be.
She stopped for a second to stretch her sore legs before she got back to work. When she had to kick Edward Elric out of her office, she needed more strength when she possessed right now and that was far more annoying when the risk that one of the nurses would catch her while working out.
"Soon," she muttered while she punched the thin air a few times. "I'll be back to business in a second."
With a content smile, she went to take a shower.
"…you came to me because you could achieve no improvement in the last few years, am I right?" Abigail asked while she looked at Serena who looked very frustrated. "Could you please take of your jacket and your uniform pants? I have a suspicion I would like to confirm…"
"Of course, madam," Serena said respectfully and followed the order. "How bad is it, madam?"
"Your muscles are in a terrible shape. After your injuries, you lost your touch but instead of doing the right and reasonable thing and return slowly to your former shape, you overworked yourself for the last few years!" Abigail rubbed her temples. "You will relax … and participate at Edward's training for the next few weeks, Miss Hawkeye. We will bring you back to business in some weeks, don't worry."
Abigail looked as young and beautiful as before. She hadn't changed over the last three years. Her attitude was still easily compared to cool fire. She still wore black and red because she had her favourite colours and they were also her son's favourites.
"I can't … I have my job … I have to do whatever my job asks me to do."
"Listen well, Miss Hawkeye," Abigail said calmly. "I am not part of your and my daughter's world. I am a simple housewife who happens to know some alchemy – like my younger sister too. Alchemy is a part of my life and I'll never deny this but … it's not my life. I know, however, your kind because my daughter isn't better than you in the slightest. Jade buried the guilt for the things she could never change when she was seventeen. She became a state alchemist when she was eighteen … and she never looked back, you know? She knows just one way to move … she always moves on. She has no clue that her choices influence the others around her. She is a born leader even though she refuses to do her job properly after your sister's death. Jade is someone who tends to lead other people and who tends to remind other people of the consequences. She is far more level-headed than people usually give her credit for. To bury her guilt was the final steps she took to grow up properly."
Serena who was quite talented at getting hidden messages nodded slowly. "So, what do I have to bury to grow up?" she asked slowly.
"Nothing yet," Abigail said coolly. "We can't bury you yet … you never lived."
Serena looked after her as she left the room and the blonde wrapped her arms around her legs as she rested her forehead against her knees.
Abigail Mustang … now she remembered the name because she had known the name and the story before she had travelled to meet her again. Abigail Mustang was in her little hometown, somewhere deep in the East, something like a living legend because she had been the one to stand up for a boy who had been bullied that bad that he had come to school with a knife on his side.
Abigail who had been senior class president at the time had lived up to her reputation and she had even surpassed it. The older woman was a wonderful woman and loved dearly by many. She was someone Serena could really look up to because she had stuck to her beliefs.
While Reine Hawkeye, Serena's mother, had betrayed everything she had stand for once upon a time and in a life no one could remember anymore, Abigail Mustang had shown her family's spirit and her own fire. Now Serena knew what Roy had meant after the war when he had said: 'I would give in … but my aunt would have my head'. It was clear that Abigail was some kind of role model for her younger relatives. And they all had seen her spirit and her strength and had followed the way she had gone a long time ago.
"…and that's how we solve the equation!" Victoria announced proudly before she skipped across the garden over to Laila. "How was that?"
"Probably right," Laila replied, looking up from the book. "You skipped some steps, as usual, so I don't really could follow. I am … I am sorry…"
"I don't even know why you're learning this stuff," Nick said. "Miss Miller told me that she told you that this kind of equation won't be in the exam."
"I would never trust a teacher," Roy warned. "Your aunt Serena was so sure that she wouldn't get love poetry in her Cretan exam because her teacher said so – and she got Miranda DeClaire…"
"That's the author of the sappiest love poems ever!" Nick groaned.
"And chances are high that you'll get one of her poems and have to analyse it," Riza said amused. "You are really one unlucky boy when you get this – excuse my language – crap."
"Serves you right for choosing Cretan as your first advanced subject," Laila teased.
"Nick, you won't fail, right?" Rachel chirped.
"I would never fail you, little sister," he promised.
The family sat in their huge garden behind the house and enjoyed the sunlight while Nick and Victoria were studying for their graduation exams. While Laila had written her last tests in Aerugian (first advanced subject), Music (second advanced subject) and Mathematic and taken her oral examination in History, Nick had decided on Cretan (first advanced subject), Aerugian (second advanced subject), Art and Mathematic and Victoria would do her exams in Mathematic, Amestrian, Geography and Britannic. She hadn't been so happy about the fact that she had been obliged to take Britannic but she had accepted it somehow because it was one of her best subjects.
"I'll go and get some ice cream," Riza smiled. "Nick, are you with me?"
"Of course, mom!" her only son grinned. "Are you in too, Laila?"
"Sure thing!" his oldest sister laughed as she handed back the math book to Victoria. "See you later!"
Roy looked thoughtfully at the twins but they were playing in the garden, so he turned to face his still terribly pale daughter. When Victoria had been still in hospital, Edward had said that her face was paler than the sheets surrounding her and this deathly whiteness hadn't leftVictoria's noble facial features. "Could you … um … take a break for a second?" he asked carefully. "We need to talk."
His probably most mature child closed the book and looked up at him. "Well, what do you wan to talk about, father?" she asked seriously and he wondered if she was really that young.
"Riza and I … we just want you to know that we … love you, no matter who you will do in the exam," he said slowly. "And we … we will always be on your side because … you are our daughter … and I know that Lynn would find a way back from the dead if she would get wind of us treating you not the way you deserve to be treated." He exhaled. "We are family … and even though we all were kicked around like trash over the last three years and even though you suffered probably more than a child of your age is supposed to suffer, we are still standing. We are … like a quilt … often patched but still warm."
"You use the strangest metaphors, daddy," she chuckled, "but I get your point – at least I think so."
"You are way too modest, Vicky," he said as he patted her head. "I believe the day I could ever outsmart you is far away … that's why it is so great that we are family, so I don't have to betray you somehow."
She laughed softly before she hugged him tightly. "Thanks," she said seriously and sincerely.
"You took a burden that was too much for your shoulders when you decided to take the exam this year," he said slowly as he took the book away from her. "You could have waited one year…"
She shook her head. "I can't let Nick get ahead of me," she smiled. "We are siblings, you know? You and mom are both only-children, so you don't know the problem of sibling rivalry. When I don't take my exam with Nick, he will never let me live it down. We are always in competion."
He sighed deeply as he hugged her and lifted her easily on his lap. Her small heart that had fought so much over the past three years was easily to hear in the perfect silence the importance of the moment created with ease. Her pulse, he mused, had to be made of steel because it was so strong and steady.
"…oh, hey Mr Mustang, Vicky," Owen said as he walked into the garden. The seventeen year old boy had grown into a handsome guy and his smile didn't waver as he crossed the garden. "You are taking your math exam tomorrow, right? So I came to help you … like you helped me last year."
Victoriawas back on her feet in a flash and grabbed her book before she kissedRoy's cheek. "We will be in my room, daddy," she said light-hearted as always when Owen was around. "See you later!"
"It's alright, Vicky," the chancellor sighed as he watched her leave with her best friend.
And when he was alone, he remembered the time he had feared for her life.
It had seemed like misery was Victoria's closest friend. Roy had been damned to watch helplessly how his little girl had withered like a flower, how she had slipped through his fingers like water. He remembered the night when the fever had been nearly too much for the small body and how Victoria had said that it was high time for her to leave because she felt lonely. Trouble and misery had hunted her all along and even though she was stronger than most little girls, she was such a tender and soft being … she hadn't deserved what had happened to her. Roy had spent weeks in her hospital room and whenever he hadn't been able to visit her, Riza or Olivier had been there, holding Victoria's hand and watching her breathe because – how Winry had said – as long as Victoria was still breathing, she still fought.
And she had lived up to her name. Victoria meant The victorious One and after an especially hard night in which Roy had feared that she was really, really dying, she had recovered. He remembered how he had left the hospital room for a moment and how he had smashed the first mirror he had seen because he had been helpless.
He had just watched how Death entered the room and walked by Victoria's bed – just to turn around at the sight of a little girl who had vowed that she wouldn't die before she would get her first kiss. When he had returned and seen that Riza and Olivier were both crying, he had thought for one painful and agonising second that his little girl had been taken from the world that night but Victoria had lived … she had recovered. She was still alive.
Leroy picked up the sheet of paper from Charlotte's desk and read the lines while his eyebrow rose. It read:
Lionnenburg, the Lion's city You are no beauty The gold from your pits Lionnenburg You are no global city Here is where the heart still counts
By Charlotte Llewellyn, a woman from the West
Deep down in the West
where even the sun is dusty
it's better like we tend to believe
deep down in the West
work made your face grey
you love yourself without makeup
you are a honest, sincere woman
– just like your famous daughter, me
you are – and that's sad – totally blocked
but that's why I love you
your pulse is made of steel
and I can hear it deep in the night
was what brought us back after Bradley
…you flower in the West
you are where she comes from
Lionnenburg
I stand by your side
let's go, Lionnenburg
on your First Avenue
there is never a fashion show
so, who the hell lives in Central City?
Lionnenburg
you are the heaven for millions of pigeons
and always on coke.
But with your never-ending strength
you make everyone cower in fear
you and your famous daughter
Lionnenburg, City of the Lions
"…did you see my notes, darl-" Charlotte froze in the door as she spotted him. "You aren't supposed to see this," she said calmly.
"That's great," he said. "I mean … you really surpassed yourself this time."
She smiled flattered "Thanks, darling," she said friendly as she took back the paper. "I wanted to show the world that Lionnenburg is more than coal and wealth."
"The city with the two faces, huh?"
"Exactly!" she laughed.
Laila was annoyed as she passed Cai's house because he had returned to Xing a month ago without giving her the chance to tell him that she loved him more than she loved Nick. She was pretty frustrated because of this and the fact that she knew that Owen wouldn't leave Victoria's side anytime soon because he was another part of the Let's-worry-for-Vicky-club, she was even more annoyed. "Why does Vicky always have the luck?" she muttered under her breath.
"That's because she's so smart that she can calculate how to be lucky," a familiar voice said and she turned around while her eyes widened. "Long time no see, Laila, huh? Sorry that I am so late – I just had to get rid of the stupid adviser before I could get back to you, princess."
Laila had learned one thing while she had worried for her sister: life was too short for any regrets, so she stepped forwards and grabbed Cai's hand. "There's something I meant to tell you even before you left," she said calmly. "I … um … kinda like you, I mean, really like you."
He smiled before his hands cupped her face and he kissed her softly and slightly clumsily.
First of all:
You need to know that I usually update right before I go to bed and since I check my mails with my handy every morning because some teachers would write us a mail if he would miss the first 2 hours. I also check my reviews every morning. That means that I have a really good morning when I get many reviews. Save my morning - review now!
And everyone who puts this story as a favourite should take the time to write at least one review. 47 people have it as a favourite but it seems that the people who are reviewing are always the same 5-10 :(
Vote, people, vote! Vote, people, vote! Vote, people, vote! Vote, people, vote! Vote, people, vote! Vote, people, vote!
Thank you, everyone who reads this story! It makes me really happy - and happiness is something I miss since I had to stop swimming because of some serious problems with my right shoulder which aren't solved yet :(
Announcement 1: I opened a poll on my profile, so I would be happy if someone would use it^^
Announcement 2: what-is-the-color-of-love pointed out that 'Aerugians' as name for the people of Aerugo looks/sounds better than 'Aerugoans' ... who besides me agrees with that?