The two figures stood across from each other in the white void. If they both had eyes, they'd be staring each other down. "Oh come on, Truth," Mephisto said, "Can't you make an exception? I promise this is the only time I'll ask for this."
"I said no Samael!" Truth growled, "You get two guests with you at a time, no more! I'm already making an exception by letting those two live in my dimension, and look what trouble they've caused!"
"Oh, trouble would have caused itself anyways!" the demon said, waving his hand, "Besides, this isn't the first time you've made this exception for me. Remember when I first came here to fix up the walls of your world? You let me bring a lot more than two exorcists with me."
"This is different Samael!" Truth snarled back.
Mephisto raised an eyebrow. "Is it though?" he questioned, "Because I'm getting a pretty good case of deja vu here."
Truth frowned and clenched his fists before releasing them. He was right. Things were starting to look quite bleak. It had gotten so bad that demon kings were able to enter his world again! It was only a matter of time before he attempted to return… "State your request," Truth said, "If it is reasonable, I might allow it."
Mephisto smiled. "I'm glad we could come to an agreement," he said.
….
Rin stuck his head out the window of the moving train, loving the feeling of the wind in his hair. The air was crisp and slightly cool, complementing the warmth of the sun on his face. He took a deep breath in to smell the morning air. Man he loved train rides. Well, at least these kinds of train rides. One of the things he didn't miss about his old home was the trains. The subways were always packed to the brim, plus the buildings themselves stank of either BO/cologne of the ten thousand businessmen and women who used it every day or disinfectant. The bullet trains were less crowded and didn't smell but they always were too fast to enjoy. You couldn't enjoy watching the scene roll by and you'd probably break your neck if you stuck your head out the window. "Careful," Ed teased, "If you stick your head out the window too much, you'll fall out."
Rin raise an eyebrow before getting back in his seat. "Nah, that's only you, Ed," he teased, "After all, that egghead brain of yours counts for half your body weight!"
Ed growled and tried to grab him. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THEY'D BLOW AWAY IN THE WIND?!" he shouted, causing RIn to laugh.
"Brother!" Al cried, grabbing his brother and putting him back in his seat, "Stop it! We don't want to upset the other passengers."
"I think it's too late for that," Winry said with a sigh as she glanced to the other people in the train who were staring at them and whispering. She then sent a glare at Rin. "Did you really have to provoke him like that?" she said, "You knew this would happen!"
Rin shrunk a little in his seat. "Sorry…" he said, "I just don't see what the big deal is about me wanting to stick my head out the window. It's still less dangerous than what those Xingese guys are doing." It was true. Rin was at least still in the train cart. Meanwhile, they were riding on top of the train.
Fu's eyes narrowed as they could see the city in the distance. "Young lord, do you feel that?" he questioned. There was an unnerving chi wafting through the air as they got closer. Ling nodded it was similar to Rins, and seemed stronger, yet also not as powerful. It permeated father but seemed stretched thin.
"What an interesting city," he muttered, "There's definitely something wrong with that place. Whether we can find the source of immortality or not, this place is definitely not as innocent as it appears." He then walked across the car and climbed down to the door, "I'm going to spend some time with the locals. See if I can find any interesting places to visit first."
...
When they arrived at the station, they stretched and hopped off. Rin smiled as he stepped off. "Ah, nothing like being back in the city!" he said.
"Yeah, smell that fresh smog," Ed joked. Winry and Al laughed and Rin smiled at him. There laugher was cut short by Fu and Lan Fan running up to him.
"Excuse me," he said, "Have you seen the young lord?" The two looked worried.
The four blinked. "No…" Al said, "We thought he was with you."
"Where could he have gone…" he muttered as he looked around. "Young Lord?" He called, running away, "Young Lord!"
"Should we help them?" Al questioned.
"Nah," Ed said, "We have to head into Central Command to see the lieutenant colonel."
"Yeah, and I want to see the Hughes as soon as possible!" Winry added, about to go hail a cab.
"Wait!" Rin called, stopping her, "Yukio wants you to check in with him first." "Please can you go to him before you see the Hughes?" Rin pleaded.
"Ok…." Winry said carefully, "I'll go head to him first then...see ya I guess."
…
As soon as they heard Rin and the Elrics were back, Roy and Riza began searching Central command for them. Well specifically for Rin. Roy needed to see how he was doing, if he had really changed all that much, and to have a very stern conversation with him about his recklessness.
They had been looking for almost an hour and Riza was getting sick of being in the dark. "Sir," Riza asked, "I'm sorry, but why is it so important that we find Rin so soon? You're not doing this just to avoid work, are you?" If this was an elaborate scheme to avoid paperwork, she was going to regret making him waste her time. Although she wanted to see Rin too after all he'd been through, at this point she'd prefer him come to them.
"I promise it's not that, Hawkeye," he said, "I just need to speak to him about private matters."
She sighed as she saw his furrowed brow. "I understand you have certain duties as his father to scold him, sir," she said, "But maybe it would be best if we get back to work for now and have you talk to him late-" She stopped as she turned the corner and saw the three boys walking down the hall.
Roy's eyes widened and his breath hitched as he saw the changes to his son. The most obvious difference was the tail swinging behind him, but there were other things too. Pointy ears peaked out from his shaggy hair. His eyes were a more electric shade of blue and his pupils seemed more ovular. Fangs flashed in his mouth as he spoke, and slightly pointed nails protruded from his fingertips instead of the usual rounded ones. It gave Roy a slightly numb and cold feeling as he came to terms with this image. Rin was a demon. He looked like a demon. But he was also his son. He still looked like the boy he had raised, even if even if he now possessed a few slightly uncanny features.
Riza glanced at him as she noticed Roy's reaction. Her brow twitched in confusion as she didn't understand his expression. Was something wrong? Shouldn't he be happy to see his son was ok, especially considering all that had happened?
Roy relaxed before frowning and clearing his throat. All three boys turned to him in surprise. However, Rin's face also looked slightly fearful. "Oh! Dad!" he said, voice high, "What are you doing here?"
Roy narrowed his eyes at him. "You know very well why I'm here, Rin," he said.
"We don't!" Ed said with a frown, "What are you doing here in Central? You're not going to shove another mission on us are you?"
"No," Roy said, "I and my men were transferred here several weeks ago." "But don't worry, I be leaving you alone for now," he said, narrowing his sight on Rin, "But I need to have a word with my son…"
Rin gulped and laughed nervously. "Who me?" he said pointing at himself. Roy glared at him before grabbing him by the arm and tugging him away. He was in no mood for witty banter. This fact terrified Rin. The colonel's three subordinates watched him drag his son away as Rin shot them pleading looks. Ed and Al felt slightly sorry for him as they hadn't seen Rin's father so upset with him in a while, while Riza simply looked on curiously, still not entirely sure what had happened to cause such anger.
"So…"she said, turning to the Elric brothers, "What are you doing back in Central headquarters? Yukio told us you were off searching for an alternative to the philosopher's stone."
"We were," Al started.
"But we found some information regarding those oroboros freaks that we need to get to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes," Ed explained, "Do you know where he is? He wasn't in his office."
"You just missed him, I'm afraid," Riza said, "He decided to take his lunch break early to visit his daughter in the hospital."
Ed and Al looked surprised. "Wait, what?!" they cried.
"We knew Hughes family was attacked but why is Elicia still in the hospital? Rin said she was fine!" Ed said, concern and confusion written on his face.
Riza blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry…" she said, "I was under the assumption you knew. Did miss Rockbell not come with you?"
"No she's here but what does that have to do with-" Ed started angrily before suddenly shutting his mouth as horror dawned on him. "Elicia…" He breathed, "She's not...she can't be…"
Al was completely quiet with shock and Riza felt pity for the boys. "I'm sorry, but it's true…"she said, "While Gracia was only mildly injured in the chimera attack, Elicia lost her left leg up to her knee…"
Ed swallowed. His hands began trembling with guilt. He did this. He hurt another innocent person. Elicia wasn't even involved in this, why did it have to be her? If they had never gone into that damn lab…
Al was having similar thoughts, but his were more directed on how Elica must be feeling. He knew how his brother felt after losing his limbs. He was so depressed and distraught. Almost lifeless even. It broke Al's figurative heart that she might be in the same state.
"Boys?" Riza asked, getting worried, "Boys are you alright?"
"...We're fine," Ed said, obviously not, "Thanks for the information. We need to get going." His hair was covering his face as they turned away.
Riza could tell they were upset. "Edward, Alphonse," she started, reaching out to them. However they suddenly turned and started walking away. He brow knit together slightly. "Boys come back here!" she said as she began walking after them. They began running at that. Riza growled as swore under her breath. She wouldn't be able to catch up to them at this rate. "It's not your fault!" she called after them. Riza sighed as she watched them run down the hall and disappear. She felt a little guilty, but she supposed they'd have to find out sooner or later….
But it should have been Rin or Yukio telling them, not her. They knew how to talk to those boys better than any of them. If anyone could make them feel better, it was him. Riza turned around and started heading in the direction of Rin and Roy. Maybe if they were done with their...discussion...she could convince Roy to put off punishing Rin if he would cheer up the Elrics.
…
Roy pulled Rin aside into an empty office room and folded his arms after shutting and locking the doors. "You have a lot of explaining to do," he said in a low voice.
"Yeah…" Rin said, scratching the back of his head, "Well...I'm a demon now...surprise?"
"Not that!" Roy said rolling his eye, "But I will talk to you about that later. I'm talking about your reckless and downright stupid actions! What were you thinking going into an abandoned laboratory without aid from other officers, especially when you knew it wasn't exactly abandoned from the start? You could had died or been kidnapped! Oh wait, the latter already happened!"
Rin frowned. "Well everything turned out ok in the end!" he insisted.
"Ah yes, because you losing part of your humanity is perfectly ok!" he said rolling his eyes, "Rin, we have no idea how this will affect you! Yukio has already told me you received a warning from Mephisto and now have the equivalent of an allergy to salty foods. What if you start spewing fire whenever you get too upset? What if you can no longer use traditional means to protect yourself from demons like holy water, spell tags, or circles? There's now a demon KING after your hide for whatever reason. How are you going to be able to protect yourself?"
"I've got my sword…" Rin muttered looking away.
"And that's another thing!" Roy continued, not missing a beat, "You carrying that thing around is extremely unsafe. What if someone stole it? From what your brother told me, someone already has tried and succeeded to!"
Rin growled, mentally cursing at his brother. What did he tell him absolutely everything? "And, What? it's safer with you?!" he snapped, "At least I managed to get it back! You couldn't even find the people who stole it from you!"
"That's not the point, Rin," Roy said, "The more you carry that thing around, the more likely the people around you are to figuring out the truth!"
Rin froze at that. Roy's eyes widened as he read Rin's body language. Roy growled. "How many people know," he said.
"Not many!" Rin said, holding up his hands in defense, "Just the Hughes, Ed, and Al." Then Rin crumpled slightly. "...And Izumi, and that gang from Dublith, and these freaky people from Xing that have this creepy sixth sense…"he continued with less confidence.
Roy's eye twitched. "YOU TOLD COMPLETE STRANGERS?!" he shouted.
"No!" Rin said, as if offended, "Of course not! They figured it out on their own. The gang opened the sword and those people from Xing had that freaky sixth sense thing that Yukio does now! And even then, none of them knew or figured out the truth of the situation."
Roy relaxed slightly and sighed in relief. "But please let me keep the sword on me," Rin pleaded, "It's already saved my life and my friends lives several times, and I can't think of any other way to keep it safe. After all, your case idea didn't work and it's not like Kuro can protect it."
Roy sighed and rubbed his hands down his face, bring them to his chin as he bore an exhausted expression. "Fine," he said, "But don't open it unless absolutely necessary. That's an order, got it?"
Rin nodded in understanding and gave him a mock salute. "Yes, Dad!" he said sarcastically.
Roy raised an eyebrow before smirking. "That's colonel to you, mister!" He responded.
Riza didn't know what to say by the end of the exchange. At first she hadn't meant to listen in, she had just gone to knock on the door to see if she could steal Rin away fro a moment. She had not expected to hear what she had, but after Roy had said, "The more you carry that thing around, the more likely the people around you are to figuring out the truth!" She because curious and suspicious, and couldn't help but listen in. What were they talking about? What secret were those two hiding? And what did the sword have to do with it? What would happen if Rin opened it? And why didn't she know about this? She felt a deep sense of hurt. She knew there were things the colonel kept from everyone, even Hughes and herself, but if he knew about it, why couldn't she? And besides, this seemed like something extremely important. If Roy needed this sword protected, why didn't he go to her for help or let her know? And what exactly was so important about the sword that it needed to protected from the homunculi and why shouldn't it be open?
Riza frowned. She didn't like this. How was she supposed to watch his back if he couldn't trust her? How was she supposed to watch his back when she couldn't trust him? She had to resolve this soon, but first…
"Colonel? Rin?" she called as she knocked on the door. The door was unlocked and she entered the room. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but I need Rin to help with something," she said, "the Elric brother's just found out about Elicia's…situation...and they need someone to speak to them about it."
Rin looked down guiltily as Roy gave a look of surprise. "You didn't tell them?" Roy said in disbelief.
"I didn't want them to blame themselves…" he weakly argued.
Roy huffed in annoyance but left him alone on the subject. To be fair, he would have tried to do the same. "Very well, Hawkeye," he said, "Send him on his way."
Riza nodded and pointed him in the direction of where the boys ran. The two officers then stood alone in the room. There was a momentary silence between them that, to Riza, seemed very tense.
Roy then turned to her and smiled. "Well, now that that's taken care of," he said, "I suppose it's back to work."
Riza nodded. "You certainly have a lot to get back to," she said, "I advise you not take your usual extensively long lunch break if you wish to finish it on time."
Roy shrugged. "Fair enough," he said before walking away. Riza watched him do so. For the first time in a long time, she hesitated before following after him.
...
"I promise! I'm not an illegal immigrant!" Ling cried, gripping the prison bars, "I'm just visiting royalty! Honest!" Once he had entered Central, he had been overwhelmed by the immense amount of power radiating from the city that he just had to go out and explore. He had to see where it all was coming from. After about an hour of doing so, his body realized he hadn't eaten for the entire train ride and he promptly passed out in the street. He expected to be able to play his usual shtick of being a starving beggar and get free food from that...but when the police found him like that, the situation ended with prison cell instead of a hot meal.
"Yeah, yeah," the police officer said, "tell it to the judge."
"No, really! I have proof!" he said, holding up his Yao clan seal, "See? I'm a member of the Yao clan in Xing!"
The police officer raised an eyebrow. "How do I know that's even real?" he questioned.
Ling faltered. He was right, he had no way to prove the seal was real as there was no one in Amestris that he knew of that could examine it. Then an idea came to mind. "Wait!" he said, "I know the Mustangs! Yukio and Rin, they can vouch for me!"
The police officer's eyes widened. "You're friends with them?" he questioned. Ling nodded enthusiastically. The police officer stroked his mustache. "Alright," he said, "I'll call one of them up and see if they vouch for you." Ling stretched his hands up into the air in victory as he walked away.
….
"Hey Yukio!" Winry chirped as she walked down the hall of the hospital, all her luggage in toe.
The young man blinked as he turned towards her and smiled. "Oh Winry!" He said, "Good to see you! You're looking well."
"Thanks Yukio!"she said, "I've actually been under a lot of stress lately, orders keep flying in. It's hard to keep up." "But I'm happy to be here. I wouldn't miss this one for the world!" she said.
Yukio raised an eyebrow. She was happy? He felt confused. Though maybe she just felt honored in that she was the one helping Elicia. "Let's step in my office and we can discuss what she wants," he said, leading her into the room.
"Alright!" Winry said, opening up one of her bags, "I already have a few models ready, actually."
Yukio smiled as she pulled out the skin-toned plastic. "That's wonderful!" he said, "Your really do come prepa-" He stopped in his words as he stared at the models in confusion. "Winry...this isn't right," he said, "All of these are much too big!" It was true. They were all adult models.
"Oh don't worry," she said, "They're adjustable! One size fits all!"
"No, no, no!" he said, "It doesn't matter how much you adjust them, they'd be too heavy for her to use!" He then moved over to her luggage bag, "Surely you have some smaller ones in here…" he said, unzipping it.
"No, wait!" She said, "Don't touch-"
But it was too late. He opened up the luggage bag and her underwear fell out. There was a moment of silence as Yukio blushed furiously before he leapt back. "What the heck?!" he cried, "Why did you bring your luggage here?!"
Winry frowned. "Well sorry," she said with a huff, "Your brother sent me here before I could go drop it off at the Hughes house!" Yukio looked confused. Why would he do that. "I don't get what his deal was," she said, "He made this sound super urgent. He wouldn't even let me stop by to see Elicia and see how she was doing at home!"
Yukio's eyes widened in alarm at that. "Wait what?" he said, "What are you talking about? Elicia hasn't been at home for over a week!"
Winry looked at him in confusion and alarm. "Huh?" she asked innocently, "What are you saying? Is she alright?"
Yukio deadpanned as realization dawned on him. Rin hadn't told her. His fists shook. That bastard! He didn't want to make Winry upset so he left it to him! He was going to wring his brother's neck when he saw him.
"Yukio?" she demanded, standing up, "What's going on? What happened to Elicia?" Her voice was already wavering slightly.
Yukio sighed. "Winry…" he said, "Elicia is the one you're designing the prosthetic for." Yukio winced as Winry's eyes widened and she cupped her mouth. She slowly shook her head no. "I'm sorry," he said, "But it's true. She lost her left leg a few weeks ago."
Winry sat down in a chair, shoulder's shaking as tears started falling from her face. Yukio placed a hand on her shoulder. "How," she demanded, finally speaking, "How did this happen?!"
"You remember lab five, correct?" Yukio said, "Well after Rin and Ed got out, Maes started doing some digging. The people behind it found out and first tried to silence him, but failed." "So they sent a chimera after his family," Yukio lied, "Rin stopped it, but it had bitten her leg off already." Winry gasped at this. "Don't worry!" Yukio assured, "She had been knocked out when it had happened, and she's been doing great since!"
"But she had to go through all that!" Winry sobbed, "She's only three! She's only just gotten the hang of walking. She shouldn't be getting measured for a prosthetic!"
Yukio sighed and sat down beside her. "I know…" he said, "It's not fair, and I'm not happy about it either." "But she's not letting it keep her down and neither should we," he said, "You know she's really excited to see you."
Winry looked up at him, tears stopping. "She was really happy when we told her you might make her new leg. She really wants to spend time with you," he said, "She sees this as no different an occasion as when you came to her birthday. So do you think you could see it as the same for her?"
Winry blinked before half smiling. "You're right," she said, voice still cracking a bit, "I need to be able to smile...for her sake. If she can, so should I. After all, I'm the one making it so she can get back on her feet…"
Yukio smiled. "Exactly," he said. Inwardly, he felt very relieved. He was still mad at Rin for making him the one to tell her what happened, but he was proud of how he had handled that. Now to call up Rin and give him a piece of his mind…
BRRRRRRRRRRing! BRRRRRRRRRRRRing!
Speaking of calling, the phone suddenly started ringing. Yukio gave a confused look before walking over to it and picking it up. "Hello?" He asked in confusion. His brow furrowed as he found it was the police chief. "What can I do for you, Sir?" he asked. He became even more confused as the man said there was a possible foreign friend of his at the station. "Foreign friend?" ßhe repeated, "I don't have a-" He stopped as he realized who the man as talking about and his eyes widened in horror. No. Oh God no. Not this idiot! He hoped he would never have to see that guy again, and now he was calling to bail him out! Yukio sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine…" he said, "I'll be right over…."
...Guess what guys? I aced my exams! Woooo! Thanks for all the well wishers out there, vocal or otherwise! And thank you to my reviewers! I've really appreciated your support. This story has over a hundred and fifty reviews now! WOOHOO! anyways, I hope you guys have a wonderful day! :) let me know what you think!
