Nicol stood frozen, blinking back his uncontrolled shock. It couldn't be possible. That was not Yzak's body lying prostrate on the ground, collapsed beneath the whirring engines of the Vesalius. It was not.
Then he felt Dearka grab him. He was whirled sharply around and dragged at an ungainly run toward the cover of the trees. The blonde's grip was inhumanely strong as he urged the smaller boy into a faster sprint. The young pianist shook his head to clear it, glancing over at the tanned youth in his sickened, dreamlike state. It certainly seemed like Dearka. His mind was reeling; at the moment, he had no choice but to trust the collected form of his comrade beside him.
They ran. Past the blurred sets of woodland sentinels that guarded the nighttime forest. Past the rows of low shrubbery and jagged rocks. Past a pile of scattered bodies that lay smothered in the moss, until at last they reached the beginnings of a dirt path that would lead them neatly away from the Vesalius and back toward Central's interior.
"He's not dead," Dearka mumbled aloud as he panted in his exertion to keep both himself and his team member moving, "We need to get away from him."
"B-but…" The stunned boy caught a glimpse of reflective metal armor flashing in the trees to his right. Alphonse was still with them. He heard gunshots ringing, the sound drawing ever nearer and they ploughed through the thick copse of trees and back toward the city. And then his senses seemed to come back in a mad rush.
Nicol dug his heels into the ground, effectively halting the panicked Dearka as he tried to drag him farther. The young ZAFT soldier tore his arm from the blonde's tight grasp, and in one fluid motion he struck his teammate square across the jaw. It hadn't been a well-executed hit, but it had been quick, effectively stunning his adversary and knocking him to the ground. Immediately Nicol threw himself down, pinning him to the dirt with a forearm across his windpipe.
"Don't move," he hissed, one eye on the hulking form of Alphonse as the armored boy joined him. "Why'd you do it?" He fixed Dearka with a murderous glare.
Alphonse sputtered in his surprise. "But you said he was one of your friends! Why are you holding him down?"
"He's not one of my friends," the pianist assured him. He looked into the violet eyes of the blonde beneath him just to be sure. There was no fear in them. No vengeance. It looked as if the tanned youth was more annoyed than anything else, come to think of it. He wasn't so sure anymore, and he needed to be.
"There's one way to find out," Nicol said after a short time had elapsed.
"Get off me and I'll explain," the Buster pilot bargained, but to no avail.
Nicole licked his dry lips before speaking again. "What color were the boxers that Yzak put on today?" the boy demanded coolly. Dearka choked through the stranglehold, sputtering violently as the irregular question caught him off guard.
Nicol's face remained hard as stone, however, and at once Alphonse Elric realized the purpose of the clever inquiry. It was a test.
"But why ask him that?" Al asked, growing a bit agitated. "Is that code for something else? Why would he remember that?" He ignored Nicol's instructions to be silent. "A detail like another guy's boxers? Wait, unless he's…"
The Buster pilot ripped himself from his captor's grasp upon catching the implied meaning. "I am NOT gay!" Dearka roared at once, turning a deep purple with rage. "Why in the hell would I pay attention to his underwear?" He fumed while Nicol rolled aside to allow him up.
The youngest ZAFT boy fixed his weapon on the blonde's face, the slender barrel inches away from his brow. "Stay there. I still don't fully trust you."
"You little brat," the tanned boy growled, "Where in seven hells are you going with this? We don't have time for…"
As if on cue, another explosion shrouded them in a cloud of bright white light, while a false thunder rumbled from the direction of the blast. Alphonse's armor clanked softly as the vibrations jarred him where he stood.
The alchemist watched the two ZAFT soldiers nervously. "Please, whatever is going on, sort it out quickly. We need to get back to the Fuhrer's office building and find out what's happening." He neglected to mention the report he would be making to the Lieutenant Colonel about the status of the big green ship.
"We can't go until I'm sure," Nicol insisted. "I don't think this is Dearka at all. I think he's that shape shifter with the long hair." His eyes narrowed.
Dearka reached up to swipe a strand of his coarse locks from his eyes, staring at them mutely. Finally he burst into a vicious fit of bitter, ironic laughter. His face carried a "just my luck" sort of expression, even as the gun moved closer to his forehead.
The Blitz pilot found himself disgusted with the display. "That twisted reaction proves it," he concluded.
Alarm bells went off inside Al's head. "Nicol, don't shoot him. That shape shifter you mean, he's a homunculi! I know which one you're talking about. You can't kill him with just a gun, and he'll only come back faster if you try!"
Dearka eyed Nicol in contempt as the younger boy considered the alchemist's warning. "You've got to be kidding," the blonde scoffed, "Man, am I glad Le Creuset didn't make you the commander of our team. Even I can tell when that androgynous creep is lurking. You can relax — he's not here. It's just me. But you'd better stop wasting time, Amalfi, especially if what that armored kid says is true. Because if it is, the real threat will be after us any minute."
Nicol looked indecisive. "Fine. One more chance and then I'll believe you." He lowered his weapon. "How old was Yzak when he lost his virginity?"
Al let out a tiny yelp and staggered in astonishment, teetering this way and that quite comically as a large bead of sweat formed on the back of his helmet.
"WHY ARE ALL THESE LUDICROUS QUESTIONS ABOUT YZAK?" The blonde hollered maniacally, practically foaming at the mouth in his haste to dive at the Blitz pilot's throat.
Nicol fended him off with an innocent giggle. "Well, now at least I'm positive it's really you," he announced.
The furious blonde was still trying to take a swipe at him, but upon hearing the statement, he sagged in relief. Within seconds, however, his scowl was back.
"Fuck you," he shot lamely, while Nicol only erupted into another bout of satisfied hysterics. "I never thought I'd hear you talking about stuff like that. For crying out loud. What the hell was that interrogation for, anyway?"
Al's eyes would have resembled saucers had he had his human facial features. "Yes, I'd like to know that also."
"V-very well," Nicol managed to agree through his laughing. "Dearka hates being told that he and Yzak act like an old married couple all the time. If there's one thing he can't stand, it's when someone mistakes their friendship for something more and decides that they're lovers. The funny thing is, that's just what most people think when they see the two of them together. So the only way to test him was…"
"To ask him questions about Yzak that he would only know if that were true, and they were lovers," Alphonse finished, wanting to grin despite himself. "You were willing to bet that Envy would have assumed the same thing as the rest and tried to answer accordingly, and that would have given him away." Perhaps these young Coordinators weren't so different from him after all.
"You two are complete assholes," the blonde huffed, righting himself and loading his gun distractedly. "And Yzak wears briefs, for your god damned information, so get it right next time."
The two younger boys nearly fell over due to their loud guffaws, but the Buster pilot remained stonefaced.
"Laugh all you want," he said, "The homunculus was the one you saw lying on the ground back there. It wasn't until just before you came along that I realized Yzak wasn't acting like himself. If he fooled me so easily and for so long, we don't know where he'll show up again, or as who." He cocked his weapon experimentally. "Come on."
They proceeded with caution until the familiar spires of the city's central buildings came back into view. Dearka crept forward slowly, but Nicol placed a hand on his shoulder and held him in place, turning afterward to face Alphonse.
"Al," he said quietly, "Thank you for all your help, but I think we have to stop our charade now." He couldn't keep his voice from wavering with a tinge of regret.
The armored alchemist was only silent for a moment. "You're right," he subjected casually, without a hint of distress. "It's time we did just that."
Dearka gawked first at his own red-clad teammate, then at Alphonse. "So it's true. You are that kid who was in Resembool the day that Winry took us back to her house."
Al let out the smallest of chuckles, kneading the back of his neck as he spoke. "That's right. And you're the guys who claimed to be tourists."
Nicol allowed a tiny smile to form on his lips. "I'm sorry I tried to deceive you at first. I realized right away that you recognized me as well, but you didn't say anything, and you played along so neither of us would have a reason to fight each other. Thanks."
"It's no problem," Al said. "But I guess now you know I'm no ordinary resident of Resembool," he exclaimed glumly, "Because you saw me here, and what I could do."
"Don't worry," the pianist assured him, "I won't tell anyone I saw you, and I won't ask what you're doing or whose side you're on. Don't forget, now you know that we're ZAFT soldiers. I hope you'll do us the favor of keeping that quiet as well."
Al paused, but only for an instant. "I will. We're even." He held out his hand and Nicol Amalfi grasped it in a firm handshake, with Dearka following suit.
"I hope we'll meet again sometime," Nicol's hazel eyes glittered as he smiled widely, "Someplace where there isn't any war. Goodbye, Alphonse Elric."
"Bye," Al said, and he was afraid that if he'd been fully human he might have shed a tear at the unfair parting. They could have all been friends. He nodded once in Dearka's direction, and without a word, he left them.
Dearka rested his hands on his hips once the alchemist had gone. "What if he was with the State?" he asked in concern, checking behind him for any sign of their pursuer.
"Nothing we can do now," the Blitz pilot answered faintly, watching the spot where his acquaintance had disappeared. "But there's something incredibly wrong here, Dearka," he said. "If that wasn't Yzak back there, then… Where's the real Yzak?"
Dearka's eyes were hard. "I don't know."
A/N: The jokes about Dearka's sexuality — I had to throw them in, and my apologies. In my spare time I'm quite the yaoi fan, so perhaps that may have been the reason… Either way, I was trying to lighten the mood one last time before things get dark. I hope it wasn't too lame.
After this, the story will move back to focus on the other characters, and things will begin to draw to a close. I can't wait to write my gigantic battle scene. Gives me shivers. Thank you all so much for the fabulous reviews and for sticking with me as I continue to draw this process out. As a rough estimate, I'm hoping I'll wrap this up in about 42 chapters. (Random, I know.) STAY TUNED!
Whoops, one last thing. Yzak, boxers or briefs? I could hardly decide. I couldn't see him in either. I hope I made it believable. xP