Chapter 25: Shadows' Tales

"There's nothing here…" Edward told himself, shaking his head. "There's never anything here, or at least not until I'm off-guard." With his own statement he looked behind him, but saw there was still nothing, only the stone walls. He quickened his strides, when he realized he'd already passed the fork in the path he and Al had taken earlier, and stopped to stare down the long cavern for no reason at all. Don and Hashimoto weren't back yet, and neither was Al. The torch did barely anything against the large darkness inside the cave; this made it impossible to see much. Edward turned back into the long hall, and this time took the opposite path when he got to the fork.

At the end there was a dank room with old, worn chains still damp with blood hanging on the walls, and a few empty boxes on the right wall. There was straw around the torch on the ground. Some of the individual stubbles were smoking they were set so close. Al lay bent over the far wall, though it was only seven feet away.

"Al, there you are, I was wondering…"

There were legs connected to a figure covered in black water under his brother.

"Who is that?" Edward was about to scream, but soon saw he knew the girl. She was the one who had died on the stairs in the Kalki mansion…

SHE WAS THE ONE WHO HAD DIED ON THE STAIRS IN THE KALKI MANSION.

"WHA—? YOU?" Edward didn't know how this girl could have survived such a thing. "HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE? I THOUGHT YOU WERE CHOMPED IN HALF BY THAT FREAKY EBLA GUY!"

Shadow closed her eyes. Edward saw there was discomfort in them. Then Al retracted to reveal the rest of the girl.

"So… so that's how you…"

Shadow nodded.

"Well come on, let's get you out of here."

"No." Edward stopped in mid-clap.

"What?"

"No, I can't. I…" She hid her face further than it already was.

Edward looked over to Al. "What does she mean?" Al didn't say anything, for he did not really know himself.

"I'll tell you," Shadow said. "But you must promise not to speak to anyone of this. Not anyone."

"Can we tell Don you're alive?" surprisingly, Edward asked.

Shadow closed her eyes again. "Of course. Tell him what you wish." She waited for another while before starting. "It was all because of the Hajudido war with Xing…"

The Hajudido tribe was probably, at its peak, the biggest, strongest, and most powerful clan than any other Xing has ever had. It was so advanced that after consulting with all of their wisest rulers and superiors they decided it was time to break off from the rest of Xing and become their own country. They posed this request to the emperor himself at the palace, but when he merely waved them off, saying it was for their own safety, they were enraged to say the least. Though, they weren't stupid. They knew the emperor wanted nothing of them but all of their men. Hajudian warriors were the stealthiest and best trained. Not to mention there were the most of them than any other clan too. Now this was all fair, but they knew exactly what their forces would lead Xing to—ruin.

Finally they knew it was time to enforce what they believed would help the known world move and grow, so they had to get to the emperor in a position where he'd pay attention to them so they would say what they had to say. Over the years they started getting their militants into the supreme line of the soldiers by the emperor's side. When all of them were lined up to strike, they did, but not violently. They only cornered the emperor and continued to plea to him of their wants, but when he resisted and his protectors came in, that's when civil war broke out.

The battles didn't last long, but it was the most blood-thirsty battle Xing has ever had with over 200,000 casualties within the first month. My father, being human at the time, was one of the many militants by the emperor's side before the fighting induced who had gotten there from the famous Manju clan's authority with the royal family. Manju was also one of the largest clans of the many in Xing, but nowhere near the size of the Hajudido or Yao clan. Father was one of the few in the palace who knew what the Hajudians wanted was actually better for the well-being of Xing and the rest of the world, but all who opposed the emperor were sentenced to death, prison, or worse.

When the Hajudians finally made their move, my father knew it was time to leave Xing, and he did so without a trace. He fled out of Xing to the "free" country of Amestris. Since the news of civil war in Xing had reached the ears of Amestris, father knew he would not be allowed admission into the country; he had to be smuggled. He waited in the Xerxes ruins in the very center of the desert for many months until travelers who were willing to do the job passed through, and they took him to their home country, Aerugo. At the time Amestris and Aerugo were allies, not enemies, of course until the Ishbalan civil war, but that's later in this story. From Aerugo my father gained easy access into Amestris with no questions asked, and went to work in his new life in the South.

What my father didn't know was there was something wrong—terribly wrong—with this country, but now he could not go back to Xing. Even as the civil war ended, and Hajudido did finally get their wish to break off from Xing after all of the bloodbaths, there was no way he would be let back. He would be considered a traitor, and everyone in the emperor's head military line knew what the emperor did to traitors—depending on if they were a man or a woman.

Feeling as though he would be trapped in the doom of this country's alchemy and military way of life forever, my father thought it best just to end his life. He knew there was no way he could live like this, and even all of his family back in Xing would never be able to see him again no matter what he did. He'd even warned them of what was to come in Xing at the Hajudians requests, but they had not listened, and now he didn't even know if they were still alive after all of the bloodshed. But just as my father entered the church, he was greeted by a young woman. She asked him of his business here at the house of god that day, and he thought it best not to lie in the sanctuary, so he told her the truth.

She begged him not to end his life as he tromped up the many stairs to the bell tower, but she did not try to stop him in any other way. When he at long last asked her why she did not try to halt him, I was told she only answered, "Because it's your life; you can do what you want with it. It is not mine, or even god's to command, though he gave it to you. You could end your life, you could make the light in your eyes fade, but that doesn't mean that you'll get sympathy or anything different in the next life, if there even is one. Would you really want to do that to yourself? If not life for anyone you love or care for, why not just for yourself?" Astonished at her saying this, my father thought of her words, and found them to be true, every last one of them.

He did not end his life that day, and did much the opposite, actually. The woman he met in the church and he became great friends, close friends. She visited him at the wood shop he worked at, and never let him forget the light he'd been granted by living on this planet. Over time, as anyone would and always does, he began to love her. He loved everything she said, she was always there for him in his times of doubt, and he found living quite wonderful whenever she was near, or had given him a good scolding the night before.

One day he asked her to marry him, she said yes without fault, and they were wedded the next week.

Neither of them had much money, and Mary's—my mother's—parents lived in the northern area in the West with only enough to support themselves. It was then they had me. I remember my mother telling me I was named after her mother in my faint memories, but other than that that's all I can remember of her. I was two when taken away from her by my current father. He came home from work yelling about something; I was too young at the time to understand what he was saying. He grabbed my mother and me and ran out the front door with us, but the sirens of the military's dogs were already too close. We had no choice but to make a run for it.

Taking the back alleys and traveling only in the shadows we had to get out of the South and all of Amestris. We were nearly to the border of Aerugo when we were caught. Mother was snatched by the soldiers pursuing us on the turn to the slums, and my father, though not wanting to leave her, took me and got away just by the nick of his feet.

He wept over her for many hours afterwards, and I never saw her again.

It wasn't too long after that we reached Aerugo, but just as the Aerugians did to the Ishbalans, though they helped my father get access into Amestris before, they would not let him back through. Only this time when pinned against the gates of the border we weren't confronted by the military, something else was after us.

"You!" my father spat, but at what, I could not see. "I knew I hadn't seen the last of you. What do you want with us?"

A whisper came out of the darkness in the ground shadows. "Where are you going?"

"Why would you care? I'll be leaving you and your siblings to do what you came to Amestris to do. Why would you care if I left here with myself and my child?" Father's face was a grimace. I'm sure he knew there was no escape.

"Ah, how do I know you aren't going to speak of our little ordeals to anyone? You could just as well inform someone in another country of our plans. You know that."

Father backed away right to the grating before he said, "I do, but I'm a man of my word. Now please, Pride, just let me go."

There was a great pause; neither of them moved. Until finally, finally, the shadow creature smiled showing all of his teeth.

"I am not Pride. I do not have a real name. I broke off from the others. That's why I cannot let you get away. You will be my name. You will be my host. You will now be me, Ebla."

"DAD!"

His hand slipped from my grasp as many black hands pulled him away.

"DADDY! COME BACK!" I screamed for him louder than I ever have in my life.

"Quiet child, you don't know what you're dealing with." Then I heard my father's voice.

"It's alright. Don't worry about me. You'll be fine, Vorrina."

The shadow creature drew him back closer to its belly.

"No, daddy! I won't let you d—"

It was already too late. As Ebla, my new father brought me close to him with his black arms blood soaked my shoes.

"Hello there, beautiful." Ebla grinned at me. "You'll be coming with me. Now that I have a host you'll come to good use. I know some people at Kalki who could use you…"

I never took the plain fact that my father was gone, I couldn't. I still believed—still believe—he's alive somewhere inside that monster who is now my father. Along with my mother, who must still be somewhere in prison…

After I was taken to the Kalki mansion by Ebla I was trained none-stop to become a warrior like the rest of them. They always taught us we were looking for something. "Something beyond this world," they always said. I had nowhere else to go, so I stayed there to let them teach me. I wasn't that good with the sword or the dagger, so Don was appointed my advisor. Though he was really harsh, he was also a good teacher. I learned everything I know about combat now from him. But I as time passed, I also passed his skill, and was therefore sent to find whatever I could that was 'different' out in the real world.

The rest, I'm sure you know.

"…You honestly think your father is still alive in that… thing?" Edward asked as soon as her part was done. Shadow, or more, Vorrina sighed.

"Yes. I'm sorry, and I know it's foolish, but I do. I still believe there's some part of him inside that monster."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to me. You should be apologizing to yourself." Edward turned around. Alphonse could tell from his posture he was in deep thought. He turned back with a look that said he knew whatever he said would not make Vorrina change her mind.

"People don't come back from the dead. If you saw them die yourself, you should know better than anyone he isn't coming back."

Vorrina closed her eyes again and wheezed a breath in with her hand still on what was left of her right shoulder.

"If I believe that do you think I'd still be here in these chains because my father wanted me to be?"

Edward nodded as though agreeing with her and his own earlier thoughts.

"I guess you have a point there. A normal person would know that he was dead."

"Brother, don't forget we weren't much different at one time in our life. We thought—"

"I know what we thought! I do, Al. You don't need to remind me."

Ed sighed. He didn't know what to do now. They'd found Shadow—or Vorrina—or whoever she was—and she didn't want to go with them… What would Don do when they told him she was still alive? Would he come to get her? Or would he respect her wish to be with her so-called father? Ed spun around again.

"Come on, Al. If she doesn't want to be saved that isn't our problem. We've got to find this Ebla and destroy him before he can cause any more harm to anyone else."

"NO!" Vorrina lurched forward as far as her chains would allow, splattering blood on some of the straw on the ground.

"Look, he isn't your father. You need to grow up and realize that. It was one thing when we were little kids, but you're—"

"What do you mean it was one thing when you were little kids?" Vorrina asked slowly.

"Not now," Edward responded. "Let's go, Al." He bound out of the small dungeon cell room before anyone else could say anymore. He did not want to be reminded of that time. Not now.