Red Roses2: I'm not really happy with this chapter, but it kind of needed to go like that. I'm happy I've finally put Izumi in. Pride is turning out to be quite the entertaining character to write.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. It belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.
!#$%^&*()_+~
Scar looked up from his journal suddenly and pulled back his right sleeve. His tattoo glowed red. Heinrich's eyes widened.
"What the hell - ?" the German said.
Scar launched out of his seat and ran to the bathroom door.
"Ed! ED!" Scar shouted. He tried the lock, but he couldn't open the door. He pulled his arm back, thrust his hand upon it, and disintegrated the door. Heinrich stood a ways back, awe-struck and confused.
How'd he do that? Why'd he do that?
The answer to the second question was answered as the dust misted away.
Blood dried on the floor, water ran unattended, and Ed lay unconscious on the floor, his automail arm trapped underneath his body. A young girl knelt next to him, a small smile on her face, her hand pressing against where Ed's scar would be – Ed's shirt and jeans were torn and blood pulsed out of the scar-turned-open-wound, and blood caked the girl's body.
The girl's black hair fell around her face like Trisha Elric's did in those pictures Heinrich saw of her, and her eyes were shaped just like Trisha's; the only difference to their eyes was that this girl's were pitch black, like coal or machine oil. Trisha's had been a gentle gray.
She looked up at Scar with a soft smile.
"Hello. Mother will be all right in a moment or two," the girl said calmly. She brought her hand to her mouth, hacked up spit, and spread said spit across Ed's wound. The bleeding stopped. The wound closed. The girl's smile widened. Satisfied with her work, she wiped the floor with her hand, and the blood disappeared. She stood up, turned off the water, wiped her hand around in the sink, and the blood disappeared.
She turned her eyes onto Scar and Heinrich. Scar's tattoo glowed brighter.
Scar flushed slightly once he realized this girl wasn't wearing anything.
She was clearly not fully developed, so if Scar had to hazard as to what her age was, he would've said seven or eight. But that didn't explain why she was there, where she came from, why she was covered in blood – Ed's blood – or –
"Who are you?" Scar asked, fear creeping up on him.
The girl's eyes curved upward as her smile turned into a grin.
"Pride Elric. Second child of alchemic build-up and physical stress of Edward Elric. It's an honor to meet Mother's Ishbalan guard in person."
She bowed.
Heinrich bit his lip, eyes returning to Ed.
"Edward?"
A groan answered him.
Pride's gaze rested on Heinrich. She walked up to him, as Heinrich made a step toward Ed. Heinrich stiffened.
She reached out and grabbed his shirt.
"Father," she said.
Scar swore Heinrich's eyes were about to pop out of his head.
"What?" the German gasped.
Pride wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her cheek into his shirt.
"Mother will be fine. He just needs to rest."
Heinrich stared at her, then at Scar (who was lifting Ed off the floor), then back at her, then back at Scar and Ed.
"Huh?" was all he could manage.
Scar shrugged and carried Ed to a row of seats. He set him down and looked him over for any other injuries. Ed groaned again, and his eyes fluttered open.
"What happ-ened?" Ed grumbled, closing his eyes again.
Scar looked back at Pride. Heinrich looked horribly uncomfortable, confused, and awkward. He seemed to not know whether to hug the girl back or not.
"We don't know, but we're going to find out," Scar said truthfully. "Get some rest, all right?"
Ed grunted consent and seemed to fall into dreamland.
Scar stood up and walked over to Heinrich and Pride. He grabbed the child with his right arm and wrenched her off of Heinrich. He narrowed his eyes.
"Explain what just happened."
Pride's smile widened.
"Of course." She wrapped her arm around Scar's, successfully breaking his hold on her, and pushed him into a seat. Heinrich sat next to Scar, casting a worried look in Ed's direction. Pride sat across from them, not minding at all how she sat.
Scar determinedly stared right into her face. Letting his eyes wander was way too dangerous.
"I'm what I said I was. The by-product of alchemic build-up and physical stress. In this case, it was illness. In Brother Greed's case – ,"
"Brother? Greed?" Heinrich interrupted.
Pride nodded. "There's the original Greed, and then there's my older brother, Greed Elric. He left Mother back in Xing, though I don't think he had an actual body at the time. The electricity did something peculiar that allowed him to exit the body with just his soul and an idea of what he should look like."
Scar raised an eyebrow, not understanding a single word of that, but from the look on Heinrich's face, it struck a cord somewhere.
"What do you mean by Mother and Father?" Heinrich asked.
"By Mother, I mean the one whose alchemy brought us into existence from beginning to end. Mother's transmutation of his brother's body was in exchange for Greed's, my, and two other siblings' existence. Hence the alchemic build-up. Though, with how the Gate is acting up, I'm starting to wonder exactly why we're here in the first place. By Father, I mean the one who gave us an identity. Brother Greed's father is Alphonse Elric. You are my father."
Heinrich's hands tightened their grip on his knees at the mention of Al Elric.
"What do you mean 'I gave you an identity'?" Heinrich said, his eyes brimming with confusion.
Pride's smile started to look condescending. "You're proud of Mother. You're proud of how Mother makes you feel. You're proud Mother loves you, chose you. The moment you felt the most proud of Mother was in front of that grave. This," Pride pointed to her face, "is the image you had in your head when you told the grave how thankful you were for Mother. So I adopted it."
"But how could you know that?!"
Pride giggled.
"Whenever you touch Mother's scar, I know exactly what you're thinking and what you've thought since the last time you touched it. It's the same with my unborn siblings, and it was the case with Brother Greed before he left."
Scar decided to intervene before Heinrich got them too off track.
"Your siblings – how many are there?" Scar demanded.
"Two more. Their appearances and natures will be determined by how Mother is treated."
Scar and Heinrich both furrowed their eyebrows.
"What do you mean by that?" Scar inquired.
Pride laughed.
"When Brother Greed was born, many people wanted Mother as their own. Alphonse Elric, Father, Ling Yao, and the original Greed. Father and Alphonse Elric the most, however. So, Brother Greed became Greed and adopted the appearance of Mother. When I was developing my own appearance and personality, Mother was mostly in contact with Father, and Father is very proud of Mother, so I am Pride. My unborn siblings will be whatever people feel towards Mother."
"Your name and your brother's name," Scar said, "they're the names of sins. Does that mean your siblings must be sins?"
Pride nodded. "My remaining siblings can be Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, or Lust. It's really up to all of you."
Scar grinded his teeth together. This was sounding good at all.
"You mentioned the Gate," Scar added. "What's happening with it now? I thought we closed it for good last time."
Pride shook her head, her smile mocking him.
"The Gate can never be destroyed as long as human transmutation is possible."
Heinrich held his head. Too much information he barely understood. What the hell was the Gate?
Scar slipped off his coat and tossed it to Pride. Pride caught it.
"Put it on. We'll shop for proper clothes when we reach Dublith," Scar said monotonously.
Pride shrugged and pulled the yellow coat on. It swallowed her up, the collar tickling her chin and the tails reaching her ankles.
Heinrich looked over at Ed, his eyebrows knitted together and his frown heavy.
~!#$%^&*()_+
Izumi stood at the train station, her arms crossed and her foot tapping. Sig stood next to her, his umbrella hanging on his arm. The clouds above them threatened to drop rain upon the town, and the dreary weather wasn't good for Izumi's health. Mason jogged up to them and wiped the sweat off his brow.
"Are you sure we need to wait for them here? I mean, are you that worried about him?" Mason asked Izumi.
Izumi nodded.
Her skin crawled as the train finally pulled in. She walked closer to the train entrance, staring expectantly at the door.
Her eyes widened when Scar stepped off, Ed asleep in the Ishbalan's arms and his clothes caked in dried blood.
"What happened!?" Izumi demanded.
Scar merely looked at her, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed hard. An audible sigh distracted Izumi for a second; Ed didn't mention a third companion. . . .
"I have to explain it again?" drawled a young girl who jumped down to the platform, feet bare and face dirty with a flaking brown color – dried blood.
"Ah, no," Scar said. "I'll explain it."
A blond man stepped onto the platform; Izumi guessed that was the man Ed had said he wanted her to meet. His resemblance to Alphonse was uncanny. . . .
Scar turned to look at him. "You take Ed to Lady Izumi's. I'll get Pride clothes."
The blond man nodded and held his arms out to take Ed. Scar gently rested Ed in the man's arms. The man held Ed close to his chest, almost as though he were a child. Ed muttered something unintelligible and nuzzled his cheek into the man's shirt.
Scar took Pride by the hand and bowed his head to Izumi.
"I'll explain what happened when I return. But this girl can't walk around in only my coat. . . ."
Izumi nodded, her confusion still paramount.
Scar would fulfill his word, but she would still try to get it out of this new friend of Ed's. If "friend" was really the right word.
As Scar took the small girl in the direction of clothing shops, Izumi turned her back to the young man and walked toward her house.
"Come on. My place is this way."
The young man quickly followed her. She smirked slightly as she looked over her shoulder to see how wary he was of Sig.
"Don't worry, my husband doesn't bite," Izumi said.
Mason chuckled. "It's Izumi-sensei you have to worry about! Ha ha!"
The young man didn't laugh. He merely gulped.
Hm. Interesting.
~!#$%^&*()_+
Izumi sat down across from "Heinrich", as he had introduced himself as, and crossed her arms once more. She smirked at how much he looked like a scared puppy.
"Does your expression imply that I should be angry with you?" she asked.
Heinrich bowed his head.
"I'm just worried about Edward. . . ." he said, biting his lower lip.
Izumi nodded. "As am I. Which is why you're to tell me what the hell happened to him." She lost her smirk and glared at him. "I'd prefer it if you told me now."
Heinrich's shoulders slumped.
"I don't really understand it. It sounds like it's remarkable, even for alchemy, but everything that's alchemy seems remarkable to be, and I don't really understand it, so I can't really begin to explain what exactly happened, but - ."
"Then tell me what you saw, heard, everything that you do understand!"
Heinrich pushed his back into the chair, eyes wide in fear.
Women did not act like this in Germany. . . . .
"Scar's arm started glowing red and then he panicked and we tried to get to Ed who had gone into the restroom and he somehow destroyed the door and there was blood everywhere and that little girl was there covered in Ed's blood and she said there wasn't anything to worry about and somehow healed Ed's wound and she called me Father and said her name was Pride and then went on about something called the Gate and alchemic build-up and I didn't understand any of it all I really understood was that she has an older brother in Xing and might have two more siblings but I don't want her to, because it was scary and Ed hasn't woken up since then, and I don't know what to do about it!"
Heinrich finally took a breath.
Izumi uncrossed her arms and reached across the table for his hand. Heinrich's eyebrows flew up at the 180 of her attitude. She gave him a soft smile.
"Thank you for the information. My husband called the doctor, and he should be here momentarily. We'll see if Ed really will be okay."
Heinrich nodded and looked down. He hoped she was right. He really did.
Because he wasn't sure he could live without Edward now that he knew him, now that he had him.
Izumi leaned back in her chair.
"Heinrich, right?"
He nodded again.
"How did you meet Ed?"
Heinrich forced a smile.
"That's a story you'll probably understand more than I will, but . . . ."
The German went on to explain how he met Hoenheim and how Ed had become a close friend of his.
Izumi nodded and listened, unaware that Heinrich was leaving out one tiny detail of their relationship.
~!#$%^&*()_+
Pride twirled in the Curtis' doorway, skin-tight black clothes covering her skin from the top of her neck to the ends of her ankles. Heinrich raised an eyebrow at Scar. Scar shrugged, both men painfully aware of her panty line. Izumi chuckled.
"So this is the newest homunculus?" Izumi asked.
Scar nodded, having explained the story before letting Pride enter the room.
Izumi knelt down to Pride's eye level.
"It's very nice to meet you, Pride-chan," Izumi said.
Pride smiled back at her.
"The pleasure is mine, Izumi-sensei."
"Let me guess: you refused to let Scar have any input whatsoever?"
The homunculus nodded proudly. Izumi shook her head and sent a smirk in Scar's direction. Scar gave her a disapproving look.
Heinrich wondered if he'd ever understand the silent messages people kept sending each other here.
Pride tilted her head to see into the room Ed rested in. She narrowed her eyes at the sight of a man in a white coat.
"Who's that?" she demanded.
Izumi glanced over her shoulder to see what Pride was looking at.
"That's just the doctor. No offense, but with all that blood, it's hard to believe that Edward is okay."
Pride put her hands on her hips and looked like she wanted to argue, but she was cut off.
A groan traveled from the back room.
"Alfons?"
Izumi's eyebrows flew up when she noticed Heinrich's reaction to that name.
"Ed?" Heinrich said, hurrying to the back room.
Izumi stood up and followed Heinrich with her eyes.
His name was Alfons.
He failed to mention that when he introduced himself.
Sounded like an important detail to Izumi.
"Are you okay?" Heinrich asked.
Ed groaned, pushed himself up, and held his head.
"I feel like Winry clocked me in the head with her wrench."
Heinrich couldn't help but chuckle at that.
Izumi narrowed her eyes.
Teacher? What's your opinion on guys liking guys? Why would you ask a question like that, Edward? Just curious! Sheesh! Why do you always have to turn an innocent question into an interrogation or torture session!? A laugh at his expense. It's just that you make such a big deal out of these things. A blush crossing his cheeks. Am not. Notice how uncomfortable he is and sigh exasperatedly. It doesn't matter to me, Edward. It's a fact of life that everyone is different, just as it is a fact of life that people die. If a person can't live with life, then they have a difficult existence ahead of them. Don't forget that. Okay. Thanks, Teacher.
She had had that conversation with Ed years ago – back when he was twelve. She hadn't really thought about it since then. . . . Like she said, it didn't matter to her. But . . . .
She'd just have to keep an eye on this "Alfons Heinrich". That's all.
