I do not own the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise or any of the character. I do own my OC.
Chapter 28
"20 minutes," I explain to Dolcetto, who only proceeds to roll his eyes at me.
"You have 6 more months," Dolcetto explain not really looking at me. "We're not starting until then."
I groan at Dolcetto, and flop down into a chair in the main room of the Devil's Nest. Dolcetto walk over and messes up my dyed red hair before exiting the room. I run my hand through my hair, not really caring if they thought that I was being an idiot. It's been about two years since we escaped the lab. I'm currently 17 (18 in a few weeks) and have since had my automail redone. I let my mind wonder, knowing that Dolcetto was my best bet to start sparring against so with him saying no it's not worth asking anyone else.
We all had different issues after getting out of there, but are finally starting to feel a little more grounded. Bido kind of separated himself from everyone, not sure how to adjust to his new appearance. Roa struggled with the idea of never seeing his family again. Martel was dealing with trauma of having lost her leg during that explosion, which was something she didn't get the chance to process in the lab. Dolcetto was trying to balance his chimera abilities and deal with the fact that he could never see his girlfriend again. Ryan probably had it the worst, and struggled not only with being tortured then, but was forced to watch them kill his family and friends. We had to wait 6 months to actually redo my automail and during that time I had a few different issues physically and mentally.
"You know, not paying attention to your surrounding has become a real bad habit of yours," I groan knowing that Ryan just walked into the room. I turned to face the Ishvalan, who was smirking at me cockily. "I just got back. Want to hear what I found out?" he questions the smirk never leaving his face.
I hum in response and walk over to grab the folder he was carrying from him. He laughs and walks over to the chair I was just sitting in and plops down. I glance at him, and smile a little bit knowing that he's definitely not the same kid we met in the lab. He's grown quite a bit and stands a bit taller than me now. He wears his hear a bit long, hoping to hide the fact that his ears are the two wolf ones on top of his head. He's wearing a pair of black pant, a white shirt, and a dark brow hoodie. He hides his red eyes behind a pair of glasses very similar to Greed's. He's also far more confident and outgoing, still a bit hesitant around strangers but not nearly as much as two years ago. I turn to the folder and start to study the information that was gathered.
"I made contact with one of the men you mentioned to me." I shut the folder and turn to glare at the 15 year old. He turns to look at me not reacting to my glare. "He was a pretty cool dude, but kept ranting about his wife."
I sigh and open the folder again. "Maes Hughes," I state causing Ryan to snap his fingers and nod remember that Maes was in fact the man he talked to.
"Yeah, but based on what he said I don't think he knows what's going on in the 'shadow world that lies beneath his'," remarks Ryan doing a very good Greed impression. I smile a bit, still finding the conversation I had with Greed after I woke up the strangest conversation I've ever had. "I think I should stick around in Central for a while…" I look at the Ishvalan, raising an eyebrow at his statement.
"Why?" I question wanting to give him a chance to explain his reasoning before shooting down the idea.
He shrugs, "Maes bumped into me and saw the color of my eyes." Ryan looks at me and I nod for him to continue. "He didn't say anything. He just kept doing what he was doing. I don't meet a lot of people like that. I want to be in Central because if something big does go down I want to be able to help people like him."
"I hate that you're such a nice guy," I say and sit down next to Ryan looking at some other stuff in the file. He smiles knowing that meant my answer was yes. "We'll have to talk to Greed about it."
"Talk to me about what, Wolfy?" questions the homunculus as he walks into the room. I glance at him before looking at the documents again. He is pretty much the exact same look wise from when we all met him, but now he wears this fur collared vest. I choose not to answer him and continue to read the info that Ryan got only to have the folder pulled from my hand my Greed. I glare at the homunculus as he starts to walk away flipping through the documents.
"Stop calling me that," I growl at the homunculus as Ryan starts to laugh at me. "Ryan wants to stay in Central for a bit to do a large info gathering session," I remark as I glare at Ryan. I make my way over to Greed and attempt to take the folder back. He steps away to keep me from getting it. I step forward again trying to grab the document, but lose my balance a bit and start to stumble still having issues with my new automail. Greed grabs my waist to make sure I don't fall. He looks me in the eye and raises an eyebrow, while I look away embarrassed. I grab the folder and walk away not looking at the two.
"Alright," remarks Greed, knowing that Ryan has gotten us really good information in the last few months. "You two can plan out the details." Greed starts to walk out of the room, but stops at the doorway "Oh…Wolfy," I turn to look the grinning homunculus. "You know, you're pretty cute when you're embarrassed." I look away embarrassed, not wanting for Greed to see.
"Sometimes you really piss me off," I remark still not looking Greed, only causing both him and Ryan to laugh at me.
- Later that Night -
"You sure you don't want to stay longer?" questions Martel to Ryan as we explain what will be going on.
"Yeah, I'm sure," remarks Ryan to the snake chimera. "The sooner I get to Central the sooner I can figure out what's going on and why the Ishvalans were attacked."
"Maybe I should go too," I muse earning a confused glance from the two. "It's not like I'm doing much here." I glance at them and then start working with my encoded alchemy notes again.
I stop as someone lightly smacks me in the back of the head and look up to glare at Dolcetto. "Don't be an idiot, pup." I glare at him for using the only nickname I dislike more than Wolfy. I hum in acknowledgement of hearing him, but turn back to my notes, not really caring to continue this conversation. "Should you really be working on that in here?" Dolcetto question point to my notebook and then to the crowded bar.
"My brother was the only person who could crack this encoding, so I think we're fine," I state looking back down at my notebook.
I sit up and we all look towards the door as a large man storms into the bar. The man is probably 6'4 and rather muscular. I close my notebook and stand up, seeing how damn angry this guy seems. "Where the hell is Greed?!" I move to step forward, putting my hands in my leather jacket's pockets.
"Depends on what you want," I remark not fazed by the man who turns to glare at me and starts to move forward. I raise an eyebrow as he stops directly in front of me. I hear Dolcetto start to grab is sword and the others move to stop the man if he does anything. "Oh…You're that type of guy…Can walk in and throw your weight around, but won't actually give us the chance to cooperate." I take a step forward not planning on backing down. "If you don't tell us why, we can't let you talk to him. Got it."
"I don't have to answer to you, bitch," he growls getting in my face. I stand my ground not finding this man to be even slightly intimidating. "So how about you go and get Greed for me."
"How about you back the fuck up?" I question venom dripping from my voice. The man makes a move to punch me, and I dodge out of the way as he demolishes the chair that was behind me. He turns angrier now than before, pulling his own long dagger out of his pocket. Before he can make a move I dash forward knowing that I'm faster and knock the dagger out of his hand surprising him. I move to slash at him again, only to have him block the blow. He moves to kick me, as I use my left leg to stop his kick. I put my leg down and jump back a little after the sharp pain that sent up my left leg. As I jump back I lose my balance a bit and fall into someone, who grabs me by the waist to help me get my balance back. I look up at the person and see Greed looking down at me confused. He starts to say something before I cut him off. "Not one word," I growl at him. I push him away and start to leave the room, not happy that I couldn't take this guy down, not really caring to stay and watch Greed beat the guy.
I start to walk past Roa who was coming in with Greed, but stop as he puts his hand on my shoulder. "That wasn't a good idea, Ember." I nod knowing that Roa was right. My leg, no matter how hard I tried to deny it, was damaged to the point that I can't use it how I used to. I start walking, not really wanting to have to deal with getting lectured after this.
I find myself up on the roof of the building and lay flat on my back. I look at the sky just letting my mind wonder back through the last 4 years. It still doesn't feel real. Having our own government take us to torture and experiment on. Being saved by a person who shouldn't even exist. Having to start all over. None of it makes sense to me still. Why the 6 of us are the ones who had to do this?
"You okay?" I sit up and look behind me, seeing Greed make his way over to me. I shrug and lay back down, not really sure what to say. Greed comes and lays down on the roof next to me, looking up. "You know…It really pisses me off when you do that." I don't look at him even as he turns to look directly at me. "You know that you're still having issues, so why would you jump into a fight?"
"Because all of this is my fault," I whisper, not wanting to admit it out loud.
"No one blames you."
"That doesn't mean that it's not my fault." I turn to look at Greed. "If we had just followed orders there would have been no reason to take us. And even after screwing it all up, I couldn't even fix it. You did. You're the one who saved us. And even when I went to help you do that, I screwed up." I turn to look up at the sky. "I can't even repay you for saving us, because of my damn leg."
Greed sit up and turns to look at me. "Look at me," he remarks. I sigh, but sit up honestly not sure what he's going to say. "I don't care." I raise an eyebrow not trusting these words coming from a man named Greed. "You and all the chimeras belong to me…What I did at the lab, was because all of you are unique. I don't care if you're hurt right now, you're valuable…I don't let people steal from me and I won't let you break yourself…Understand?"
I stare at him, not sure what to make of him or his attitude. For a long time, there was no guarantee what would happen, if I would die before the next day. Greed's stable. I know what to expect from him, but in moments like these he amazes me making me feel like stable like him. He watches me, not making any more to leave until I say or do something. I lean forward, but pause not sure what to do right now. Greed seeing my action places a hand on my cheek and leans in kissing me. I close my eyes and lean in deepening the kiss. I pull away a bit shocked, not sure if he really meant it. He stops and looks at me confused. I lean in and kiss him, immediately granting him access to explore my mouth. We continue to kiss for a few moments before I pull away for air.
"Got to admit Wolfy, I didn't know that you would be so forward," remarks Greed smirking slightly leaning his forehead on mine.
"I didn't think you'd let me," I reply not willing to stop looking at his eyes. I hesitate not sure what to do not. "Is this a thing that we do now?"
"I'm willing to do more if you are," replies Greed with a smirk.
I stand up and look at him, trying to hide the fact that I'm blushing. "Maybe when I'm a bit older," I remark as I walk away smiling.
Greed stands up and falling into stride next to me shrugging in response to my statement. "I'm fine with that…As long as you remember that you're mine."
