Chapter 27 – Emotional Aftershock
The nurses in the medical building at the small Northern outpost were clustered together chatting on their coffee break. Since the attack from Drachma was focussed entirely on Fort Briggs for the time being, they hadn't had much work lately. The only things they usually had to attend to were the colds, accidents and allergies of the soldiers stationed at the outpost. Many of the medical staff members were new recruits, not having seen much service during war time. Thus they were all utterly unprepared to have three people appear out of thin air in the middle of the nurses' lounge.
More than a few shrieks split the air as the women staggered back from the unexpected arrivals. The bizarre sight before them was enough of a shock all on its own. For once, Mania wasn't the most eye catching member of the group. The unconscious man, bleeding rather profusely, was a much more disturbing sight to focus on, the red liquid spreading in a dark pool across the immaculate, white tiled floor. And to top it off there was a sobbing girl clinging to him. It was quite clear no one had the slightest idea how they were supposed to react.
Thankfully at that moment the door opened and Elior appeared. He was wearing a white lab coat over his usual attire. His eyebrows shot up, the surprise plain in his expression as he took in the scene before him. Unlike the nurses, however, he was already familiar with the new arrivals and the odd form of transport they had used. He quickly recovered.
"What happened?" he demanded briskly as he crossed the room to where they were. His expression was grave as he took in the state of the green haired man.
"I believe his leg was trapped beneath a piece of debris from an explosion," Mania replied, straightening up. Elior nodded, and then glanced at the nurses.
"We don't have time to stand around. Get a stretcher," his tone was more tense than normal. A few of the woman seemed to snap out of their shock and raced off to obey. He turned back to the unconscious man, taking in the state of the dark haired girl clinging to him. He grimaced, and then glanced at Mania. "Get her out of here," his tone was firm. The red haired creature nodded. Without a word he bent and slid an arm around Elmina's waist, detaching her hold on Envy as he pulled her away.
"No!" She protested past the tears, clearly desperate not to leave her father's side. But the air around them blurred and a moment later they vanished from the room.
They reappeared in the living room of Sara's living quarters. Elmina jerked out of Mania's grasp.
"Take me back!" She cried, whirling on him, tears still streaming down her cheeks. He regarded her impassively. "Take me back, damn you!" Her shout turned into a sob. She raised her hands to strike out at him in frustration but he caught her wrists easily.
"I'm not taking you anywhere," he informed her flatly. She tried to pull her arms out of his grasp, but he held her firmly in place. "You need to calm down," his tone was firm. Those words were almost funny coming from his lips. He usually took great pleasure in riling people up. But not like this. Despite the intensity of the emotions, he'd never been much of a fan of sadness or grief. They had a bitter taste he didn't care for. As he felt the hysteria in the dark haired girl beginning to subside he finally released her. She staggered away from him, appearing very lost as she struggled to control her tears. Finally she turned and sank down onto the couch, resting her head in her hands as she cried quietly. With a resigned sigh the red haired creature leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms while he waited. He certainly wasn't about to leave her on her own. Least ways, not after having so recently pissed off Despair. That was a recipe for disaster.
Slowly Elmina's crying subsided. She swallowed hard, wiping the tears from her cheeks as she tried to steady herself. Finally she rose and headed for the washroom in search of tissues. Ugh, crying was such a nuisance. Her head was pounding and she felt like a total mess. Finding the object of her search in a box on the counter, she blew her nose and managed to dry her cheeks more effectively. She let out a shaky breath, still feeling uncomfortably close to bursting into tears again. The overwhelming fear for her father which had taken hold of her made her sick to her stomach. What was she supposed to do? Upon finding no answer to this question she finally left the washroom and returned to the couch, curling up to wait.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed. All she knew was it felt like forever. Finally though, the door opened. She looked up swiftly to see who it was. A large part of her hoped it was Elior, but instead Sara walked in. The young woman took one look at the dark haired girl's face and her expression dropped.
"What happened?" She demanded. Elmina's expression wavered, trying to push back the desire to burst into tears again.
"Dad got hurt on his mission…badly," she whispered shakily. Sara's eyes widened, then her expression grew pained. She crossed the room swiftly and sank down next to the dark haired girl. She wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Elmina leaned against her gratefully.
"What happened?" Sara asked finally. The dark haired girl sighed. Haltingly, she began to explain what had taken place over the course of the day, beginning with their arrival in Central and the discovery that their fathers and uncle were the ones going on the mission. When she finished a concerned frown had settled across Sara's features.
"So Dad and Uncle Wrath are still back at the camp?" she asked.
"Both of them are fine. I'd know if they weren't," Mania finally spoke up from his spot across the room. Sara glanced at him, not appearing particularly reassured by this news.
At that moment the door was opened, this time by Elior. He had removed his lab coat and he looked tired. Elmina shot to her feet, the desperate, unspoken question written all over her face.
"You can sit down," he informed her, "We've got him stabilized. In the long run, I think he'll be ok."
"In the long run?" Elmina asked weakly. Elior's expression was grim.
"We had to remove the leg. It was crushed beyond repair," he replied, his tone straight forward. Elmina stared at him wide eyed for a moment. Then she slowly sat back down on the couch. She wasn't even sure what to say. At least he was still alive. "He'll likely still be unconscious for a while longer," Elior said, continuing the rest of the way into the room. He nodded at Mania. "Thank you for bringing him in so swiftly. Too much time left as he was and he could have bled to death."
"I did promise to transport the three of them there and back. I don't think it really counts as a transport back if the person is dead," Mania's tone was dry. At this Elior raised his eyebrows, but chose not to comment.
"Elior, there's something I need to tell you," Sara spoke up, rising to her feet. The brown haired man turned towards her questioningly. "Titus and I are leaving tonight. We're part of the force that's being sent out to deal with the Aerugan ground troops," her expression was slightly apologetic. Elior's eyes widened in surprise. Then a slight frown creased his brow.
"I see," he said finally. He appeared worried, but he was obviously resigned to the inevitable fact that as a state alchemist, Sara was required to fulfill her duty to the state. The blond woman crossed the room to him, wrapping him in a hug, which he returned tightly.
"I don't know when we'll be back. It depends how much of a resistance the Aerugans put up," she told him softly. He nodded.
"Just be careful," he told her firmly. She smiled faintly.
"I will," she promised. Then she leaned up and kissed him. He held her close for a moment, before she finally pulled away. "I have to go. We need to make preparations for leaving," she told him regretfully.
"It's alright. Just come back safely. I can try to save your life if need be, but I'd really rather not have it come to that," his tone was gently amused. She grinned slightly as she turned to leave.
"Yes. Heaven help you if I'm conscious while you try to give me a needle," her tone was dry. Much to the amusement of her family, the seemingly fearless young woman had always had a strong phobia of needles. If she didn't pass out at the prospect, whoever was administering it usually had to enlist the aid of someone else to pin her down. The fact that she had gotten engaged to a doctor was somewhat ironic. Elior chuckled softly.
"I love you," he told her. She glanced back at him from the door.
"Love you too," she replied, smiling faintly. Then she slipped out the door.
When she was gone a sigh escaped Elior's lips. He moved to sink down into the chair across from the couch. Elmina eyed him, feeling a pang of sympathy. All of this waiting around while loved ones went off into danger was just awful.
"Why is this happening?" she whispered finally, breaking the silence. Elior glanced at her, seeing the exhausted worry written across her features.
"He's going to be ok," He assured her gently, speaking about her father. The dark haired girl swallowed.
"But why…why do people do this? Why is all of this happening? Why are those people attacking us?" her tone was frustrated, "I don't understand. We didn't do anything to them," she pointed out. Elior sighed.
"They're only following orders. Our country and their country were at war for a long time. This is just a continuation of that," he replied. Elmina shook her head.
"It's awful. All those people in South City… So many people are dead, and they're trying to do it to East City too. I just don't understand why we do this to ourselves. Why are people like this?" her voice was filled with desperation.
"We're fallen. We've chosen to go our own way. This is the end result of that choice," Elior replied simply. The dark haired girl blinked, and then her expression grew unenthused.
"Are you talking religion again?" there was an edge to her voice. The young man nodded. She rolled her eyes.
"What you believe is absurd. A 'good and loving' God wouldn't let this happen," she snapped. His expression grew resigned.
"That's where you're wrong. He lets it happen because he's given us free will. And we're fallen, so we often make the wrong choices. This is an imperfect world," he replied. Elmina frowned.
"Why on earth would He want to make the world imperfect? That makes no sense!" her tone was irritated.
"Do you actually want me to explain it to you, or do you just feel like venting your anger?" Elior asked calmly. Elmina glared at him. She did feel like venting her anger. How did any of them deserve to go through what they'd gone through over the last month? None of this was fair! Elior's deep brown eyes were filled with understanding as he watched her. She clenched her teeth and looked away. Dammit. He'd been nothing but kind to her as long as she'd known him. Despite her emotional turmoil she couldn't bring herself to lash out at him. None of this was his fault. She let out a shaky breath, raising her hands to rub her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she muttered tiredly, "I didn't mean to snap at you."
"You don't have to apologize. You've been through a lot," he replied, sympathy evident in his gaze. She lowered her hands and frowned, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. How was it possible for him to always be so… well… at peace with things? Sure, he was concerned with his fiancé having to go off to battle, but he'd quietly accepted it without a fuss. He radiated a calm certainty that she simply didn't understand.
"How are you always so nice?" She demanded finally. His eyes widened slightly in surprise and then he let out a soft chuckle.
"Well… I wouldn't say I'm always nice, or that it isn't an effort at times. But having a little faith and hope goes a long way when it comes to loving people," he replied. Elmina blinked. Loving people? She hadn't exactly thought of it that way. Though since the gentle kindness he radiated was a natural fruit of love, perhaps it made sense. But…even so. She'd never seen him not be nice to anyone. It wasn't actually possible to love everyone…right? That seemed to stretch the realms of probability in her mind.
"You aren't suggesting you actually love everyone you're nice to…" her tone was faintly amused. He shrugged.
"That's the idea. Though, I'm not suggesting I'm particularly good at it," his expression grew sheepish. "I'll admit it's a tall order to love some people." Elmina's expression dropped as a thought popped into her mind.
"Like the Aerugans?" she muttered. Elior sighed.
"Well, it's easy to love the people who are nice to you. It's loving your enemies that's a challenge," he replied. She frowned.
"Why in heavens name would you want to do that? They're your enemies!" She protested. He smiled faintly.
"Because God loves them and he's asked us to do the same," he replied simply. Elmina rolled her eyes.
"Wonderful. As I said before, if he really loves us all so much then why do we have to go through this crap? I'm not buying it. Life just plain sucks sometimes," she muttered resentfully. To her surprise Elior chuckled.
"Well I certainly can't argue with that," his tone was dry, "But I do have an explanation for you if you care to hear it." She regarded him flatly. She very much doubted she'd agree with whatever he was about to tell her. But she might as well let him say his piece.
"Alright, shoot," she consented resignedly. He smiled.
"Such enthusiasm. I'm not sure I can handle it. You're overwhelming me," his tone was gently sarcastic. She raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"Are you going to try and convert me or not?" she demanded. Elior snorted, eyes lighting with amusement.
"I'm not trying to convert you. I'm just explaining my side of things," he replied.
"What exactly are you explaining again?"
"Why the world is so screwed up despite God being infinitely good and loving," his tone was dry.
"Ah, yes…good luck with that," despite her skepticism, his good humoured attitude about the whole thing was at least pleasant. She was faintly curious how he planned on explaining something that made absolutely no sense in her mind.
"As I was saying, God is perfect love. True love doesn't force itself on anyone. He made us and he gave us a choice: we can choose him, or we can choose ourselves. After all, if there is no choice involved, then it isn't love. We'd just be a bunch of mindless robots," his tone was matter of fact. She pursed her lips thoughtfully, a few skeptical thoughts coming to mind, but she kept them to herself for the moment.
He continued, "When we choose to love, to do good, to do what is right, we are choosing Him, even if we don't realize that. Everything good in the world, every good, selfless action, comes from God. He can work through anyone, just as long as they truly want to do the right thing. But that's the catch. We have to want to do that, we have to choose to do the right thing. He's not going to force us," he explained, "And when we choose to go our own way instead of God's way, we are choosing that which is evil. And you're living the result of that right now. This war is the end result of the wrong choices people have made collectively over time. The world is imperfect because way back when humanity was created, we all decided we knew best and wanted to do things our own way. God respects our choice, even though it saddens him greatly and ultimately has caused us nothing but pain," Elior's expression was grim. Elmina frowned.
"That seems unfair. It's hardly my fault that our leaders screwed up and got our countries into this mess. How is any of this my choice?" she protested.
"I'm not saying it was your choice. But everyone has free will. Every single human being has been given the ability to make their own choices. And when a person decides to do something horrible, then that has a horrible impact on a number of people. You could choose to do any number of horrible things. God won't stop you, just as he won't stop other people from making those choices. It doesn't mean he's happy that those choices were made," he replied.
"If He isn't happy with the choices we make why on earth does He bother keeping us around?" Elmina's tone was bitter.
"Well, we don't always make the wrong choices," Elior pointed out, softly amused, "There's still good in the world. It's just that evil can be obnoxiously loud and obvious at times. Injustice, callous disregard for others, hatred, viciousness, abuse, murder, rape, wars like this one which ravage countries and leave people impoverished and broken, the slaughter of innocent people, even children, in cold blood... Any person with a shred of a conscience left feels that these things are just plain wrong. And because they are so horrifying, they tend to draw our attention. But good is still active in the world. It might be quieter, gentler, but it's still there and it will ultimately win," Elior's voice was calmly confident. Elmina stared at him.
"You really believe that?" her tone was uncertain. He nodded.
"He loves us. He's not going to give up on us. Sure there are some people who will never return his love. But there are many that eventually will, if they are given time to know and understand it. And thankfully he's patient. So he keeps working through the kindness, generosity and forgiveness which people choose to extend to each other to help heal the pain and heartbreak which the world is so full of," he replied.
There was silence for a moment as Elmina pondered these words. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it just yet. The idea of a God who loved and cared about her personally was a bit odd and hard to comprehend. But she had to admit it was a far more appealing thought than a cold, uncaring ruler of the universe. Still, she was going to have to think some more on it. While what Elior believed seemed nice, it almost seemed a little too nice. She had yet to bump into any actual proof that what he was saying was real and not just some idealistic fantasy.
"Well…I'll admit that's a nice thought, if it's true," she replied finally, "But I can't say I'm convinced." Elior shrugged.
"I wasn't trying to convince you," he replied. "But now you know why I feel the way I do." Elmina nodded slowly in response. Then a moment later the two of them glanced up as the door opened again. Adele walked in and paused, looking rather startled to find them there.
"Mina!" She cried, swiftly crossing the room to the couch, "What happened?"
"It's kind of a long story," The dark haired girl murmured as her friend sank down next to her. At least she didn't feel on the brink of tears now. Her conversation with Elior had distracted her enough for her emotions to calm down further. "Are you doing ok?" She asked her blond friend, "Last I saw you you were looking rather…um…'up'," she stated cautiously. Adele shook her head.
"I'm fine. It passed not long after Mania left," she replied, "Now tell me what happened." Her voice left no room for argument. Elmina sighed.
"Well…it turned out that my dad and yours and Uncle Wrath were the ones who were going on the mission," she began.
"Wait, what?" Adele cried, clearly alarmed by this news. Elmina nodded.
"Yeah. And it just gets worse from there," her tone was resigned. She continued to explain the rest of the day's events to the blond girl. Adele's expression grew more and more horrified as the story progressed.
"So…Uncle Envy lost his leg?" she demanded in shock. The dark haired girl nodded. "Oh man…you must feel awful."
"I…don't even know what to feel. I'm getting really tired of feeling, period," she muttered.
"Oh Mina," Adele's voice was pained. She wrapped her arms around her friend in a tight hug. They stayed like that for a time, just relieved to be in each other's company again. Finally Adele stirred. "I swear. If that bitch Despair shows her face near you again I'm going to kill her." There was a very uncharacteristic edge to the blonde's voice. Elmina blinked in surprise at the ferocity of her friends tone. She felt an amused blossom of warmth at her vehemence.
"I, uh…well…I'm not sure it's possible to actually kill her," her tone was uncertain.
"It's not," both girl's jumped as Mania spoke up. They'd forgotten about his presence entirely. "Unless of course you intend to kill off every person in this dimension who is affected by depression," his tone was dry. Adele's expression dropped slightly.
"Oh…Well that complicates things," she muttered. There was silence for a moment, before a thought occurred to her. "Uh…so…my dad and Uncle Wrath…they're still back at the Aerugan camp, right?" she asked. Elmina blinked. She'd actually completely forgotten about them.
"Uh…yeah, I guess they are," she replied, and then she glanced at Mania. "Can we go pick them up?"
"I've just been waiting for you to calm down," the red haired creature's tone was dry.
"Oh! I can't believe I forgot!" Adele exclaimed. Elmina glanced at her in alarm. "It's just, mom called earlier. Apparently AJ stayed behind to do something in Resembool and now he's stranded. She was hoping Mania would be able to do something about it," she explained. Elmina's eyes widened.
"Are you serious?" she demanded. Adele nodded. The dark haired girl rose to her feet, glancing at Mania. "Are the men at the camp safe?" she asked.
"As far as I can tell," he replied.
"Alright, can we go get AJ first?" She asked hopefully. The red haired creature let out a resigned sigh.
"I'm beginning to feel like your personal chauffer," his expression was unenthused. Elmina felt a momentary prick of guilt over repeatedly asking for his help, but she promptly squashed it. After everything this guy had put her through, he damn well owed her a few favors. Picking up on her emotional wavering he grinned slightly. "Yeah, yeah. I disagree, but I understand your point. Alright, let's go," he agreed. She stared at him, a little shocked.
"You…can't read my mind…right?" she asked warily. He snickered.
"Not in the way you're suggesting. But I can guess pretty accurately what you're thinking from your emotional flavor," his tone was smugly amused. She rolled her eyes.
"You're a creep," she muttered.
"You shouldn't insult people when they're helping you out of the goodness of their heart," he retorted. Her eyes widened.
"You have a heart?" her tone was sarcastically shocked. He gazed at her flatly.
"Very funny. Are you coming or not?" he demanded. Her expression grew a little sheepish.
"Yes, I'm coming," she replied, crossing the room to where he was standing, "We'll be back as soon as we can," she told Adele, glancing back at her.
"Alright," the blonde replied. As Mania reached for her, Elmina jerked back slightly, turning a glare on him.
"Would you quit hugging me? Just grab my arm or something," her tone was disgruntled. Mania snorted.
"Beggars can't be choosers, my dear," he replied dryly amused. She let out a frustrated growl as she was pulled into his arms. A moment later they vanished from the room.
-Author's Note-
Hurray an early upload! I'm struggling with the WIFI where I'm staying so I stopped in at the library here quickly to upload this. Next upload will be next week on Wednesday like usual. Sadly I have no time to comment on things at the moment.
Hope you liked the chapter! :)
