The Blade Alchemist: The War

Our Decision

Drake POV

I walked back to the house, head lowered in sorrow. I had hid the fact that she could die...and the children too, from her. I broke my trust to her, and now the pregnancy may kill her and the kids. I walked up the stairs and opened the door to find my wife sitting there where I last saw her. She looked at me, and I could see her eyes were filled with horror, and sorrow. We both stared at each other a moment, until she turned away from me. I lowered my head, closed the door, and knelt down beside her. "Jess, I'm sorry. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't want to worry you. I should have told you, and I'm sorry. All I can do is hope….that you'll forgive me."

Neither of us moved at all for the longest two minuets of my life. Finally, she reached over, grabbed my hand, and placed it on her stomach. "Their….moving again." she finally spoke and I sighed. "I'm sorry Jess. It's my fault. It's all my.." She quickly turned slapped me three times across the face. "Shut up. Just….shut up. I...I didn't marry a terrible man. I..." She looked up at me. "I married a man who would never do anything to hurt me on purpose. If this is how it's supposed to be, then so be it. But I still love you, no matter what happens. So...I'm not going to worry about it. Lets just keep going as everything will be fine. Okay?"

I looked her in the eyes with tears flowing. I finally nodded, then grabbed her in a hug. "Okay." We sat there until it became dark outside and granny walked in to start dinner. "So," she started and we turned to her. "What will you do now?" We looked at each other, nodded, then turned back to her. "We'll move on. We'll deal with this as it plays out." I answered and granny smiled. "Good. Now, I need to get supper ready." We stood up and Jess went to help granny with dinner. Suddenly, the phone started ringing. "I'll get it granny." I stated as I walked to the phone and picked up the receiver. "Rockbell Automail."

"Drake, it's Ed."

"Ed! It's good to hear from you. How is the Scar search going?" Ed then explained to me about them finding Scar, but then faking a 'Winry captured' scene. "Ed, I really hope you know what you guys are doing."

"I don't like it either, but we had no choice. And we have another problem." He continued to explain how he fell in a mine shaft and was very nearly killed by Kimbley. "That son of a...I'll kill him myself if I ever see him again!"

"Drake, calm down. We need to focus." I let out a sigh as he told me that he was heading to Central with two of Kimbleys men, that Kimbley tried to kill as well. "Alright Ed. I'll give Mustang a call on a non-military line and let him know."

"No. I shouldn't even be talking to you. Have you heard from Al at all?"

"No, we only just arrived."

"And...what about Jess?" I turned to see if she was around, but didn't see her. "It's bad Ed. To put short...her pregnancy his progressing at a super high rate. You're gonna think I'm crazy, but if it goes how I'm think it is, she'll have the birth...in less then a month." I heard Ed gasp over the phone.

"One month!? But that's impossible!"

"I know, but that's whats going on. I'm gonna be out of the game for a while Ed. But I'll do what I can from here. You stay safe, you hear me?" There was a brief silence.

"Yeah, I hear ya. I gotta go. Be careful Drake. And I hope everything turns out okay."

"Yeah, you be careful too Ed. Bye." I hung up the phone and stood there thinking on everything that Ed told me. I finally decided not to tell granny or Jess about what Ed told me.

I walked back to the kitchen and granny turned to me. "Who was that, Drake?" I sat down at the table. "It was Ed. He was making sure we arrived safely. And he's still screwing around up north." I finished with a fake smirk on my face. Granny smiled, nodded, then turned back to dinner. "So whats the plan now hon?" Jess asked. "Well, you are not going anywhere until after the birth. Also, you diet is going to be changing as well." She turned to me confused. "To?" I chuckled. "Fruits, and high energy producing foods. We can't have you sleeping all the time. You need to move around to get some exercise." She slightly smiled and nodded. "Okay, hon."

The phone rang again. "Sigh. I got it." I got up and went to the phone. "Rockbell Automail."

"I'm calling for Blade." a low and stern voice came through. I slightly twitched. "He's not here. May I take a message?"

"Yes, tell him that his order for roast pork is ready." Roast pork? And that voice, it's familiar...Wait a minuet! "Sig!?"

"Yes. I have a message, from Alphonse."

"From Al? What is it?"

"He said that the Day of Reckoning is coming. We must prepare ourselves for it."

"Day of Reckoning? What does he mean?"

"He said that you would know exactly what he meant." I thought about it for a minuet, then it clicked. The nation transmutation circle! "When?"

"In spring. Don't know exact day. That's all I have. And tell no one. We're working on spreading the word to friends."

"I understand. Thank you, Sig." Click.

I hung up the phone and thought about the message. "Jess, come here a moment." I heard her footsteps as she walked up to me. "Yes?" I looked her straight into the eyes. "We have a time, for 'that' day." She looked at me confused. "'That' day?" I just looked at her and didn't say a thing. Her face suddenly turned stern as she realized what I was talking about. "When?" I looked deeper into her eyes. "Spring." She nodded slowly. "What's the plan?" she asked as I turned to the phone. "I'm not sure yet. But," I turned back to her. "We will be ready!" I said sternly and she nodded. "Right!"

"Dinners ready." granny called. We walked back to the kitchen and sat down to eat. "Drake, do you think you could chop up some firewood tomorrow?" granny asked. "Not a problem granny. How much do you need?" She turned to the wood box. "Enough to to fill the box, please." I nodded. "Sure thing. And Jess." She turned to me. "I'm sorry, but unless I say otherwise, you are not to go outside whatsoever. Understood?" She frowned, but nodded. "We can't take any risks right now. If this pregnancy can kill you, we need to do everything we can to try and prevent that." She nodded again and smiled slightly.

After dinner, Jess went upstairs to go to sleep while I helped granny clean up. "So Drake, tell me. What are the names?" she asked and I smiled. "Well, if their boys, we decided on Justin and Mathew. If their girls, then Elizebeth and Sarah." Granny smiled. "After your sisters, huh?" I froze a moment and granny noticed. "That's right. I didn't tell you yet." I mumbled. Granny looked at me. "Tell me what?" A tear came to my eye. "I can feel again granny." She gasped. "You mean.." I nodded. "I can feel everything again….but at a cost." Granny looked at me with worry and I turned to her.

"I've lost my memories of everything before I came here. Friends, family, it's all gone. I don't know who my sisters are, or my family." She gasped again and stared at me. "You...lost your memories?" she asked and I nodded. "But don't worry granny. I'm happy with the decision I made, and I'll live with it, being happy." Tears fell down my face as I smiled. Granny stared at me a minuet, then smiled. "As long as your happy, they are too." I gave a slight chuckle. "Thanks granny. I know they are." We continued cleaning up and then I heard running to the restroom. "Sigh. Not again." I mumbled. I walked up the stairs and found Jess in the restroom, vomiting.

I walked up, knelt down, and started rubbing her back. She vomited again then turned to me. "When these kids are born, I'm gonna yell their ears off for doing this to me." she coldly stated. I could see she was pissed now and all I could do was chuckle. "Well, you think this is bad? Just wait till their born and they start howling in the middle of the night." She gave a loud moan, then vomited again. "I hate you." she stated and I chuckled again. "Love you too, wolf." She turned back to me. "Shut up, freak."

After her vomiting session, she went back to bed and I walked back downstairs. I walked out to the porch and saw granny smoking her pipe, watching the stars come out. I sat down next to her and lit a cigarette. We both sat there quietly until she spoke. "Drake, let me ask you something." I turned to her. "Of course." She looked at me. "You know that she could die during the birth, along with the children. So why are you going through with this? Why are you going ahead with the pregnancy?" I turned back to the sky and sighed.

"Those are our children. They came to be because of our love for each other. Life has blessed us with them. But if we let them die to save her, then that makes us selfish parents. Parents that would rather let them die, so we could live. That is not me. And that is definitely not her. We will not be parents like that. I don't want her or the children to die. And neither does she. But we both agree that we would rather have her die, than kill our children to live. If we did that, we would be nothing more than monsters ourselves."

A cold silence fell between us for a while as granny continued to stared at me. "That's the answer I expected from you, Drake." granny finally spoke. "You are truly a good man." I turned to her and stared her in the eyes. I smiled. "Thank you granny." She smiled, then got up and walked inside. I turned back to the sky, the stars were fully lit up now. I thought about what I said for a minuet, then smiled. "And Jess is a wonderful mother." I quietly stated as a tear fell from my eye.