Chapter 99: Reunited
Catherina's eyes were trained on Peter's equally green ones as she inhaled deeply. "I know you far too long to ask you why you left because I know that you won't answer me, so I will take a guess, Peter. I guess you left your family because it became too dangerous and seeing that you even stayed away from me even though I proved more than capable of taking care of myself, your opponent has to be very powerful and probably very influential…" She raised her hand to cup the left side of his face where her thumb brushed over the scar on his cheek. "…like the Cretan Secret Service, right?"
He stared at her like he had never seen her before. "You are acting like this is nothing," he said. "But you of all people should know how these … people are. They would kill me as soon as they get to know that I am still alive, Cathy. And if they know that you have contact to me…"
She chuckled darkly. "I had more than enough trouble with them," she said while she rested her forehead against his. "And as you can see: I always got out alive, Peter. But I don't know what I would do if you would decide to play the hero again. I am sick of sacrificing my happiness over and over again. I love you, no matter how foolish this may sound, and I would hate to lose you, old friend."
His hands rested on her shoulders as he sighed. "You know how much I love you, Cathy," he said. "I always loved you enough to let go of you because I always knew that they would come for you…"
"They are coming for me because they still believe that I would be able to develop the drug they want," she shrugged. "I told them more than once that it is nearly impossible to create something like that but they keep telling me that I have no idea what I am talking about and that I don't try hard enough."
"Well, obviously they forget that you are one of the most brilliant scientists that I happen to know…"
"The Secret Service always hired the cruellest and dumbest idiots Creta has," she huffed.
"And they tried to hire you, my dear lady, even though they should have known…"
Roy didn't wait for anyone inside the house to open the door. No matter how many people had told him that his recklessness would be his death one day, he opened the door with a kick. Izumi looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "A little bit impatient, huh?" she smirked.
Serena who stood in the entrance hall sighed deeply as she glared at the black-haired man who stumbled into her house. "So, I hope you will pay for the door," she said calmly.
He rolled his eyes. "I haven't seen you in six years and the first thing you tell me is that I have to pay for the door I kicked in because I was so impatient to see one of the few sane friends of mine again?"
"Serena…" Riza growled as she moved forward while she glared at her cousin. "I believe you owe me and Nerissa an explication for faking your own death – oh, and I believe that Liv would like to know the reason behind your disappearance too."
The youngest out of once five, now three sighed deeply as she nervously toyed with the hem of her shirt. She was still shy even though she had fewer problems to speak with other people now. Still, the fact that there were so many people she didn't know bothered her greatly and let the words she wanted to speak die in her throat. She opened her mouth again but she stayed silent.
Nerissa looked at her little sister with eyes full of sympathy. 'Maybe Bradley should have made her the Crimson Alchemist,' she thought. 'Whenever she blushes, she is scarlet in her face.'
"A back injury, right?" Mei inquired as her dark eyes narrowed. "I can see it in the way you move."
Nerissa limped forward and wrapped her uninjured arm around her while she hugged the younger blonde tightly. "You fool," she whispered while her hand rubbed over Serena's marred back and even though the scar was covered, Nerissa's sensitive fingertips could feel it and a pair of blue eyes widened considerably. "What in Truth's name happened to you, Rena?" she asked quietly. "It feels … terrible."
"Bear," Serena whispered while she wrapped her arms around Nerissa and enjoyed the fact that she had still one sister who cared about her. "I didn't hear it because I was … freaking out."
Roy's eyebrows rose while he tried to calm Helena down. "I would have never expected that you would not hear something as huge as a bear," he said. "And I also never expected that you would admit that you freaked out upon something."
She glared at him before her old smile returned once more to her face. "I would like to see you being all relaxed when you are shot by someone you believe to be a superior," she said. "And furthermore, I was sick and my headache was killing me anyway."
Nerissa's hand on her shoulder tensed and she closed her equally blue eyes. "Poor princess," she said before she let go of her sister. "Well, I really hate to kill the atmosphere but do you have a chair for me, Serena? Oh, and another painkiller would be nice too. My shoulder is killing me lately."
"We told you to stay behind to rest," Izumi said sharply. "In less than half a year you took one knife, some icicles and at least twenty punches to this shoulder and I am not surprised that it never healed properly with all the things you do despite knowing better."
"Recklessness considering heavy injuries runs in our family, I believe."
Maybe it was the shock on Nerissa's face that gave it away – or maybe it was the deep frown that suddenly appeared on Riza's face. The blonde had stayed in the background so far to evaluate the situation properly and even though she had noticed the tension in Serena's shoulders and the strangely familiar smell in the air, she hadn't expected this and for a second she wondered – totally irrational – if Serena had been able to do the impossible and perform a perfect Human Transmutation because the man who walked down the stairs like he owned the place (which he probably did) was no one else than the state alchemist who had died in Winter 1897 during a mission – her uncle Peter Hamilton, her father's best friend and colleague.
He hadn't changed much over the years. His once perfectly red hair, brighter than any flame and unmatched by any other redhead besides probably Professor D'Artagan, showed lines of grey but age had been kindly with him and the wrinkles on his face were the result of many times when he had laughed and enjoyed being alive. He wore, of course, a green jacket with golden buttons – just like Kay would have done it during undercover missions to prove her pride of being part-Cretan and ticking Bradley or whoever had given the orders at the same time.
"Uncle Peter…" Riza whispered, wondering if fate had taken another twist if Kay had known that her beloved father, her hero had been still alive by the time she had ran away to find her happiness.
"Ah, Riza," he said with a smile. "It has been a while since I saw you. You grew up, little sunshine."
Betrayal crossed Nerissa's flawless facial features and she turned away to hide her face. "Father."
"Ah, sweetie," Peter smiled. "I heard you gave Cathy quite a hard time in your teenage years."
She looked at her shoes which where suddenly very interesting. "Maybe, yeah," she said.
"Stubbornness was always one of your most amazing traits, Nessa," he said. "Make sure that you make a full recovery soon, so you can spar with me. I am sure that you have something to say to me."
"The times I had no other way to express myself than my fists are over," she said.
"I thought you listed me as the person you always wanted to fight against," he shrugged, "but if you don't want to, well, who am I to force you into sparring with me? Oh, I just wondered if you are trying to act mature or if you have really no interest into taking out your rage on someone you can take it."
"You still believe that you are the best, huh?" she huffed in annoyance. "I will beat you this time."
"I look forward to our fight," he said. "Oh, if you want to sit down, Nessa, I am sure that we have a chair for you in the living room." He walked over to her and held out his hand. "I am sorry, darling, I really am but I had my reasons … and as much as I want to share them with you, I can't."
Riza held Serena's hand as they sat in the younger woman's study. Roy paced around in the background, waiting for the right moment to shake Serena out off her semi-trance. Nerissa had fallen asleep due to the painkiller her father had given her and the others were waiting, more or less patient.
"I am so sorry," Serena whispered while she wrapped her arms around her legs. She looked like a child that knew that it would get trouble for doing something wrong. "I never wanted to hurt you…"
Riza squeezed her hand and smiled softly. "I know," she said gently. "You were never the type for hurting the people you care for and furthermore: hey, it's okay. All of us made mistakes over the years and I am sure that even Kay and Lynn would forgive you if they were … well … still alive."
Roy stopped for a second and crossed the room to hug Serena tightly before he ruffled her usually perfect golden hairdo. "You still worry too much," he said grinning. "You will get wrinkles if you keep that but and furthermore, I happened to figure out why you disappeared that suddenly!"
She rubbed her temples as she sighed deeply. "Oh dear, that will be interesting to hear," she said.
"You disappeared because you wanted to avoid babysitter-duty and since I got behind your evil plan, you will keep an eye on Helena and Rachel now while Riza and I go on a date!" he told her seriously.
She rolled her eyes. "You know, Roy, if you want me to do something for me: just ask me the next time. I have far too many problems at the moment to voluntarily enter an argument with you," she said, "so I would probably give in to nearly everything at the moment."
He patted her head before he sighed deeply. "I am … um … sorry about Hakon's death," he said softly.
"It was my fault, not yours," she said. "Probably he didn't fight that hard because he missed me, I will never know. I just owe him an explication when we meet again."
Maes Hughes was usually very relaxed but not today. His firstborn child, his perfect little Elicia, had not only run away, no, she had also kidnapped her younger brother, so it was his fatherly duty to retrieve his rebellious seven-year-old and the poor one-year-old victim of kidnapping. He didn't check the name on the plate on the door as he barged into the house because if he had done so, well, maybe he would have been surprised by the image on the stairs.
A plain back pullover and an equally dark skirt, golden hair with red ribbons in it – there was no doubt about the woman's identity but still, Maes gasped in horror as he saw her because she was – no matter how much he wished for the contrary – supposed to be six feet under right now … and not alive and carrying his poor, kidnapped son down the stairs.
Serena was equally shocked but she managed not to drop Frederic as she looked at her old friend. Since the entrance hall was empty and no one she was afraid of was around, the corners of her mouth moved up as she smirked. "You know, Maes, you are catching flies," she said innocently as she laughed.
Gracia who hadn't been that fast looked confused from the blonde to her husband who was frozen. She shrugged and bit her lower lip. "I believe you have my son," she stated calmly.
"I agree with you, Mrs Hughes," Serena replied as she handed back the little boy, "but your daughter asked me to keep an eye on him. It seems like Frederic can be quite mischievous – especially with Roy's twins from what I heard."