"There you are!" Al saw Manami approach Garfiel's shop well after the sun went down.
"Where have you been all this time?" He asked her, noticing that she looked pissed.
"I had to wash dishes because someone left me with the entire freaking bill that I couldn't pay by myself!" She shouted at Ed, who was already bloody on the floor.
"I-I'm sorry..." He whispered, sounding so weak that he might be close to death.
His arm was totally off... that was why.
Well, she didn't have to see that beating.
"Buy my train tickets until we're even." She huffed, but then turned to see...
"Ling?!"
He was sitting at the table with Winry having tea like they were friends.
"The girls in this country are all so nice and beautiful!"
"Thanks, but I'm afraid your compliment won't be getting you far." Winry laughed.
"Why not look for a wife along with the objective?" He went to hold Winry's hand, just like he did to Manami earlier.
"You're such a creep!" Manami yelled at him, earning his attention.
"Oh, Cutie Kami is here!"
"Cutie what..?" Al and Winry blinked.
"I swear, if you call me that one more time..." Manami gritted her teeth. "I will rip your ponytail out of your head and make you eat it."
"Winry, please fix my automail as soon as you can so we can leave this bozo!" Ed pleaded.
"I second that." Manami muttered, still fuming.
"Great! I'll come along!" Ling grinned.
"Who do you think we're referring to when we say 'bozo?!'" Manami yelled at him.
Nonetheless, Ling had come along on their train ride to Central. Ling rudely took the seat next to Al and she simply sat in the booth behind them. She figured she would try to sleep...
Except that prince's voice was too annoying to sleep.
"We wasted a lot of time because of you guys." Ed wasn't happy to be sitting with him, either.
"Come on, it's your fault for breaking it in the first place." Winry rolled her eyes.
"I just broke off a plate in the beginning!" Ed protested. "This guy and his stupid bodyguards are the reason it got worse. I should be giving you the repair bill."
"Cut me some slack... I gave them a good talking to." Ling chuckled nervously. "The girl's name is Lan Fan, and the old man is Fu. Their family has served mine for generations."
Manami eyed the booths in the car they were in as she listened to him speak. Those "bodyguards" were nowhere in sight.
"Why do you have bodyguards, anyway?" Al asked.
"Because he's a prince." Manami answered bluntly from behind him.
"HUH?!" They looked to Ling in surprise.
"Yup. Also I'm a little young to be traveling alone." Ling smiled.
"How old are you anyway?" Winry asked.
"Me? Fifteen."
There was a pause, to where Manami turned and climbed up on her knees on the seat to look over their booth.
"Get up!" Ed barked, standing up himself. Ling obliged, and stood about half a foot taller than him.
"DAMN IT!" Ed cried, and Manami had to stifle her laughter.
The group finally arrived in Central, though Ling disappeared as soon as they stepped off the train.
Manami and Ed wanted to leave as soon as possible so that he wouldn't find them again.
"Let's check into Central Headquarters first." Ed suggested. "Get us and Winry a room, and we'll be able to find Lieutenant Colonel Hughes at the Military Council Department, right?"
"Mhm," Manami answered, a big smile on her face. They could tell that she was excited.
But that smile immediately faded at the sight of Ling's bodyguards.
"Where's the Young Lord? Was he not with you?" The older man asked.
"Nope, disappeared as we got off the train..." Ed answered.
"NOT AGAIN!" The two cried, and Manami walked past them.
"Good luck!" She raised a hand to wave, not looking back.
"Shouldn't we help them find him?!" Winry cried.
"Nope!" Ed went to join Manami, Al close behind him.
"I'm not getting stuck with another bill!" Manami added.
Winry chuckled nervously. That was fair...
They arrived to Central HQ, and they made their way to the entrance before they noticed a car stop on the road beside them.
Manami glanced over to see none other than Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye step out of the car.
She didn't mind as much as Ed did, she could swear she heard a grumble from him behind her.
"Hey, FullMetal, Wind." Roy acknowledged them casually.
"What brings you two back here?" Riza asked, a small smile on her face.
"We're still looking into finding a way to restore our bodies, the usual." Ed answered.
Roy nodded. "I see..."
For whatever reason, he seemed to be distracted.
"Oh, we also wanted to say hello to Mr. Hughes!" Al chimed in, and Roy looked back at them, eyes wide.
"..?" Manami blinked.
"... you don't know?" Roy asked, his expression returning to normal before he turned away. "He took his family on a vacation."
Of all people to be here... Roy gritted his teeth.
"Really?" Manami raised an eyebrow. "I haven't heard of them planning a vacation..."
"He won some sort of giveaway. He took them to the countryside." Roy said simply.
"That's too bad..." Ed said, sounding disappointed.
"I really wanted to see them..." Winry mumbled.
"I'll contact you both if I find anything that could help with your research. Let's go, Lieutenant." Roy began to walk away.
"Yes sir." Riza followed him, but noticed that he stopped.
"... you two, watch each other's backs. Don't do anything rash." Roy said quietly.
"Huh?" The kids blinked, watching him walk away. "Okay..." Ed and Manami nodded.
That was weird...
The group finally made it to a lodge, where Ed and Al got one room, and Winry and Manami got another next door. She hadn't planned to stay with Winry, but if the Hughes family wasn't home... she didn't have a room to stay in.
"I'm starving..." Manami went to get up and walk to the door. Winry was still unpacking. "Tell Ed and Al I'm in the dining hall."
"Sure." Winry nodded, and Manami went to walk out. She made her way downstairs to head towards the dining hall, where she noticed a stack of newspapers on the stand.
"Let's see... what's going on in Central?" She went to reach for a newspaper as she walked past the stand, immediately unfolding it.
"..."
She stopped dead in her tracks. She saw Maria Ross's picture on the front page. Above her picture was the headline...
"2nd Lieutenant Maria Ross, To Be Charged For The Murder of Maes Hughes"
Maria Ross...
Murder...
Maes Hughes...
She kept reading it over and over, feeling like she misread after each time.
But... then it began to set in.
"Hiya Manami!" She heard someone call from behind her, but she didn't look back.
It was Alphonse.
"Wanting to read the paper, too? What's happening latel—"
He stopped mid-sentence as he saw her drop the newspaper and bolt out the front door.
"Manami?!" He reached out for her, but she was already gone.
What just happened?!
He looked to the paper on the floor, with the front page facing up. He was immediately drawn to the sight of the picture of Maria Ross.
"What..?" He went to pick it up and read it over.
"...!" He gasped. "B-Brother..!" He quickly ran upstairs.
Manami ran as fast as she could down the streets of Central, ignoring the fact that her chest felt like it would explode.
No way... this can't be happening!
She finally made it to the Hughes estate, where she quickly went to knock on the door. Now that she was still, she realized how much she was shaking.
This is just a dream... it's not true...
The door opened to reveal Gracia, whose eyes widened the moment she saw her.
Manami stared back at her with trembling eyes, already filled with tears. She was panting uneven, ragged breaths.
"..." Gracia smiled sadly. "Welcome home, Manami."
"... p-please... tell me it's not..." Manami's voice wavered to where she couldn't form a proper sentence.
Gracia's silence made the tears overflow from her eyes and streak down her cheeks.
"Come inside, dear... we have to talk."
"He was murdered the night you left." Gracia finished explaining the story, looking up to see that Manami was still staring at the floor, frozen in shock. "... I know... it's a lot to take in right now..." She said quietly. She was so strong this whole time, not even shedding a tear once.
"..." Manami shook her head, going to wipe her eyes for the millionth time. The skin around her eyes was stinging after rubbing it so much.
"He's in the Central City Cemetery now... near one of the only oak trees." Gracia glanced over to look at a photo of the four of them. Manami followed her glance, and she gritted her teeth. The only family photo they took that included her.
"He was holding that photo... when they found him."
"..." Manami let out a soft whimper. "I'm so sorry... I should have stayed here..."
"It's not your fault, Manami. It's not yours, nor is it the Elric brothers' fault. The last thing I want you kids doing is blaming yourselves." Gracia assured her. "Even if were here, there wouldn't have been much that you could do. The phone booth they found him in, he used to make a call to Roy Mustang. He couldn't even do anything."
"..." Manami gritted her teeth. "Yet he lied right through his teeth to us, saying you were on a vacation..."
"..." Gracia sighed softly through her nose. "I'm sure... he didn't know how to tell you."
Manami bit her tongue. This wasn't the place to vent her frustrations about Mustang. As far as she was concerned right now, he was dead to her.
There was suddenly a knock at the door. Gracia went to stand, but Manami stood as well. "I've got to go into the guest room to grab something of mine. I'll be right back." She said.
"Okay..." Gracia nodded before walking to the door.
Manami knew who was there... it was Ed and Al, Winry... or all three of them.
She closed the door behind her to reach into the nightstand drawer to find the notebook full of music that she had written, along with the photos from her past that she cherished.
"..." It was time that she took this with her. She couldn't stay here anymore.
She noticed a framed photo of her with the Hughes family sitting on top of the bedside table. The same one she had looked at in the living room.
He died, holding this photo...
She went to pop open the frame to pull out the photo and slip it with her other ones at the back of her notebook.
She heard the front door close, and extra footsteps walk inside the home.
Manami gritted her teeth as she walked to the window and opened it, going to grip the notebook in her teeth as she grabbed her fans from her pockets and jumped out. Using a boost with her wind alchemy, she made her way to the rooftops and jumped across them to make her way to the cemetery.
Manami finally made it to the cemetery, finding her way through by noticing an oak tree in the distance. Like Gracia said, there was only a few. She approached that first oak tree that she saw, and scanned each tombstone...
Until she finally found it.
Brigadier General Maes Hughes
1885 - 1914
He was promoted, probably from dying on the line of duty.
"No... no, no, no..." Manami whimpered, falling to her knees before the tombstone.
Her head began to throb, and she saw vivid visions of moments she spent with him..
"Uh-uh, we adopted you!"
"Let's have lunch together!"
"Know her?! Heck, we're practically family!"
"I trust you to lead those boys in the right direction and keep them, and yourself, out of danger."
"I love you."
There was no other way around it... he really was gone...
Her vision got blurry as her eyes filled to the brim with tears.
She couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Not again..!" She finally let out a choked cry that shook her chest to the core, before finally breaking down into harsh sobbing. She tightly wrapped her arms around herself, as if she were desperately trying to hold herself together or she would fall apart.
She didn't even keep track of how long she cried. She just knew that, by the time the sun started to set, she was dried up of any tears to where she couldn't cry anymore. She had pulled her knees up to hug tightly, staring blankly at the tombstone.
What was she supposed to do now..?
She couldn't go back to that house and face them again. It made it worse that she ran out the window.
"... fancy meeting you here."
Manami took a moment to break her gaze from the tombstone to see Roy Mustang standing behind her. She said nothing and turned her head back around to look back to the tombstone.
"..." Roy sighed, knowing immediately that she wasn't happy with him. "Listen, I—"
"With all due respect, Colonel," Manami spat. "I have zero interest in hearing anything you have to say."
Roy was quiet for another moment. "I don't think he'd appreciate us fighting in front of him."
"I don't think he'd appreciate that you're a liar, either." Manami snapped at him.
"Ghh... I won't allow you to speak to your Commanding Officer like that!" Roy retorted, and she went to stand up and look him directly in the eye.
She looked terrible.
"Fire me." She threatened. "I don't give a damn."
She went to walk past him, roughly shoving her shoulder against his as she walked by.
He turned to watch her leave, his fists clenched tightly.
He could see it in her eyes... she was broken.