I'm sorry this took a while, but guys...
NOW IS WHEN IT GETS GOOD!
So enjoy!
CHAPTER 12
When the letter came in, three years had passed since Vincent's accident.
The siblings had discovered much in this time.
It wasn't long before Vince noticed that he never felt hungry anymore. It wasn't that he didn't need to eat, or that he didn't want to anymore – hell, he loved food- but he could never tell if he was supposed to eat or not, or how much food he needed to be full. Amelia found that, if she forgot to remind her brother, he could go days without eating and not even notice.
Mia had also caught the older boy up and about the house at hours when the rest of the family was sound asleep. He had claimed that he did not need to sleep anymore, but she had often found him passed out on a couch after a long day at school. He'd even passed out during class, though he'd done that before the accident, so neither child was sure if it was cause for concern. However, it did appear that he need to get some amount of rest each day. So, after much reprimanding from his sister, Vincent set himself to a strict sleep schedule. Just because he didn't feel tired didn't mean he didn't need sleep.
And, though Amelia thought it had something to do with his inability to feel pain, the two had also discovered that Vince could not distinguish between temperatures. If he wanted to wear shorts in a snow storm, he probably could. He'd still get frostbite, but he wouldn't be able to feel it. He wasn't that stupid, though, so this hadn't been much of an issue so far. Besides some minor, unnoticed burns that he'd obtained while he was cooking, there hadn't been much trouble. Amelia had healed them, and the issue slipped from their thoughts.
As for the younger sister, her discoveries had been far lesser. One thing that hadn't changed was Mia's ability to feel others' souls. She did, however, experience one major change. It was with her alchemy. By practicing on her own and sparring with her brother, the girl had mastered her ability to transmute without a circle. She found that the clapping was necessary – she needed a circle involved somehow, to complete the matrix, and the one she made with her arms during a clap worked just fine. Then, if she could envision the transmutation circle she wanted, her hands would glow and the alchemy would come to her.
In three years, the two had finally grown used to the changes.
It was too bad that one little letter would start the chain reaction that would change their lives all over again.
"Ed!" Winry called from the kitchen. "Come read this! Edward! Hurry up!"
Amelia had been in the study with her father, lounging in the plush leather chair that had been her favorite since she was just a little girl. At age sixteen, she was no taller than she had been at thirteen, standing at a little less than five feet, two inches. She felt that she still looked like a child, and, while it wasn't the end of the world, it wasn't something she liked. It didn't help that her face was round and that her vigorous sparring kept her body fat levels low. She barely appeared older than fourteen.
At her mother's calls, Ed looked up from his books, though he didn't seem particularly motivated to move. He turned to his daughter, grinned mischievously, and asked, "Well, what do you think? Should I go, or should I wait and see how long it takes before your mother gets angry enough to come and get me herself?" The amused smirk pulled further up his face.
The girl rolled her eyes and stood, setting her book down on the chair behind her. "Dad, don't antagonize Mom. Besides, it sounds important." As if to prove her daughter's point, Winry once again called from down the stairs. Mia grinned and stretched, then headed towards the door. "I wanna go see what it's about."
Ed huffed, but it was good-naturedly. With a laugh to himself, he followed his daughter downstairs.
Vince was already in the kitchen, badgering his mother with a pout on his face. "Come on, Mom. I want to know what it's about!" Standing just short of six feet tall, Vince was already taller than both of his parents (something that annoyed their father to no end). When the siblings had noticed that he was continuing to grow, both had been relieved. They had been worried that the transmutation would keep him from changing. It was good to know that he wasn't trapped in the body of an awkward fifteen year old forever. At age eighteen, Vincent was beginning to look like an adult.
"No," Winry said, swatting her son's hand away. "It's addressed to your father, not to you."
"Not fair!" Vince slumped into one of the kitchen chairs and crossed his arms over his chest. "You got to read it."
"I'm your mother. I get to do things you don't." At this, Vince pouted harder, but it was easy to tell that he was not actually upset.
Mia plopped herself down in the chair next to her brother, and at his questioning look, she shrugged. "What? I wanna know what the big deal is too."
Following behind his daughter, Ed snatched the letter from his wife's outstretched hand. He observed the content smirk on Winry's face, then pulled two papers out of the envelope.
"So?" Vince whined as his father's eyes darted across the page. "What is it?"
Ed shrugged, trying to act casual, but the grin growing across his face was blowing his cover. "It's a press release, and an invitation."
Vincent gritted his teeth together in irritation. He wanted to know what the papers said, not what they were. "What's the release say? What is the invite to?"
"Ah, nothing." Ed smirked and sat down in the chair next to his wife. "This," he held up the press release, "is just an official announcement of Fuhrer Grumman's retirement. And the other," he held up the invitation, "is an invite to the inauguration of Brigadier General Roy Mustang as the new Fuhrer." He turned to his wife, and muttered, "Who'd have thought the old bastard would finally make it to Fuhrer, right?"
Winry gave him a playful shove. "Of course he made it, Ed."
Vince was not as amused as his parents. "Mom, why couldn't you just tell me that?"
"Because your father wasn't here yet," she said with a slight frown, "and because this is a big deal, Vince."
"Colonel Bastard has been a good friend of mine since before you two were born," Edward said. Then, he grimaced. "You can't tell him I said that, though."
The importance wasn't sinking in to Vince, and though Mia was excited to be lucky enough to receive an invite to the inauguration of the new Fuhrer, she wasn't as thrilled as he parents. Neither child had heard more than a few sentences about a Roy Mustang from their parents – all they knew was from the news over the radio. They'd heard that he was a good man and a hard working soldier, and that was about it.
But their father worked in Central frequently enough that it didn't surprise them that he had some important friends up there.
Though the nickname "Colonel Bastard" was a mystery.
And so it was that, less than two weeks later, the whole family had packed up and headed to Central.
Winry had called ahead and asked a family friend, Gracia Hughes, if they would be able to stay with her for a few days. Gracia had been more than happy to oblige, even going so far as to say that she'd been expecting them to come once her and her daughter, Elicia, had received their own invites.
It was late when the Elric family finally arrived, so after many hugs and a wonderful meal, everyone turned in for the night. Mia and Vince would be sleeping on the floor in Elicia's room, while the older girl would, of course, take her own bed.
Elicia, who was twenty-four, worked in Central Library and had an apartment of her own near the edge of town. However, since the ceremony was early in the morning and her mother's flat was far closer to Central Command, where the ceremony was being held, the girl had decided to stay at her mother's house for the night.
Which was perfectly fine with Mia and Vince. They didn't mind sleeping on the floor, and were more than happy to get the chance to share a room with Elicia. Whenever their mother had to leave town to help a customer with their automail, but their father had to leave for an extended trip to Central, Elicia had been called in to stay with the siblings for a week or so. It had been six or seven years since the two had needed her to babysit for them, but all the time they had spent together as children had made the siblings view her as a cousin or older sister.
The three had stayed up late, catching up on all the things they had missed from each other's lives. Elicia told stories of her ex-boyfriend, who had apparently been a creep who liked to follow her places, which prompted Vince to tell a story of the fall harvest dance, where his date did the exact opposite, and never showed up. Mia laughed, taunted her brother playfully, ("It's because no one wants to have to be seen with a jerk like you.") and began the story of how her father had efficiently scared her first crush away from her forever. The story involved a confused fourteen-year-old boy and an overly calm, calculating father with an extensive knowledge on highly acidic, burning, corrosive, deadly chemicals. Elicia and Vince laughed, and although Mia pretended she was still bitter, she too smiled good-naturedly. Elicia then added that Roy Mustang, the Fuhrer to be, was the one who always ended up scaring away all of her would-be boyfriends. This surprised the Elric kids, but their friend just shrugged and explained that he and her father had been close friends, many years ago.
When the night grew dark, the kids eventually settled down and tried to fall asleep. Elicia passed out within minutes- she'd had to go into work at 5:00 AM that morning, to prepare the library for opening for the day. She was running on fumes as it was, and neither of the Elrics blamed her when she fell asleep so quickly.
After about an hour ticked by, and sleep refused to come, Mia whispered into the darkness, "Vince? You awake?"
"Yeah," her brother replied. He let the silence linger for a moment, and then continued quietly. "It's hard to fall asleep when you don't ever feel tired, you know?" His voice was contemplative, and it was one of the first times Amelia had ever heard him sound so adult. "You just have to lie awake and hope sleep comes to take you. Closing your eyes helps, but, sometimes, it feels like forever before it happens."
"I'm sorry, Vince." Mia felt guilt clump in her stomach, not for the first time.
Vince snorted softly, all traces of maturity gone. "For what?"
"For messing up, Vince." The girl shook her head against the pillow. "I made a mistake on the transmutation, and now you're…. broken."
Her brother sat up and shoved her forcefully. This was not the first time his sister had said something stupid like that. Amelia had to bite back a yip. "You didn't make a mistake, Mia. You made a hard choice, and a sacrifice." He sounded angry, though he kept his voice low. "And I'm not broken- I'm alive. And that's all thanks to you. So stop apologizing to me already."
Mia bit her lip. She was strong- she always knew this about herself. She could take a punch better than any boy her age, and give one back twice as hard. She could push herself, staying up late into the night and waking up early in the morning, in order to learn everything she could about the world around her. She could work herself until she broke down and wore thin, and then keep going.
But breaking her brother? Unforgivable.
Vince sighed. Even in the silence- even though Amelia hadn't spoken- he could tell that his sister was still upset.
"Hey, why don't we go and explore the city?"
Mia snapped out of her thoughts. "What? Right now? Vince, it's like 1 in the morning."
"So?" Vince pulled the blankets off of him. "Neither of us is getting to bed anytime soon, right? Plus we're good fighters, if there's any trouble. But there won't be, because who would bother a couple of kids?"
"Vince, no." The girl shook her head. "That's a really bad idea. Let's just stay here."
In the reflection of the pale moonlight, Mia could see a cocky grin slowly spread across her brother's face. "Why? Are you scared?"
"I'm not scared!" Mia shouted quietly. She looked to Elicia, who was still sound asleep. Then, lowering her voice, she continued. "It's just a really bad idea!"
"Uh huh." Vince was taunting her. "You're just terrified- a big, frightened baby." Mia grit her teeth. "It's a good thing you look like a little kid, then, huh?"
Mia shoved herself up. "Fine, you jerk! I'll go!" With crossed arms, she glared him down and quietly muttered, "But if something goes wrong, it is entirely your fault."
Vince grinned, victorious, and followed his sister out the door and into the night.
It might be a while before my next update. Let me know what you thought of this chapter. I haven't written the next one yet, so I'm a little uncertain of how it's going to turn out.
If you have an ideas, you should let me know!
I'll be back soon! See you in a little while!