Chapter 37
The Palm of an Arrogant Human Being
"If you want to see something interesting, you should look at this," Breda said as handing the newspaper over to the woman. Her frustrated expression changed to a frown of thought.
"Hm, I'm heard of this Second Lieutenant Ross from Major Armstrong," the woman explained as she read the article. "He speaks highly of her. 'A loyal, intelligent soldier, as skilled in firearms as your First Lieutenant', he said." She placed the paper back down and tented her fingers again. "But while it can sometimes be the one you least expect, there does seem something off about this. It's too quick, too…perfect."
"Yeah, I thought the same. It just seems too flashy," the plump man replied, taking another glance at the paper before tucking it back into his open jacket.
Trrring-trrring!
With them both broken from their thoughts, the Colonel picked up the receiver. Yes?"
"You have a call from Warrant Officer Falman on the military line, Ma'am," the receptionist informed her, sounding concerned.
"I'll take it."
"Colonel, about Hughes' case, did you—"
"Yo, Falman, let me talk to her."
"You just shut up and go—"
The woman rolled her eyes as a clanking sound followed Falman's slightly muffled voice as the armour man took the phone.
"Hello, oh, beautiful one!" Barry crooned again. "Did you see the news? Interesting piece, right? Can I chop you up now that the case is solved? I've been very patient and well-behaved…"
"No, and if you ask again, I'll—" At that moment, Hawkeye returned from his lunch break. Not wanting to worry him anymore than he was, the woman quickly switched to her typical pretence. "Oh, hi, Barbara. It's been a while. Is Falman letting you use the military line again?" She said, quickly plastering a smile on her face as she turned her chair slightly away from the two of them. Hawkeye gave a suspicious, sideways glance to the other male solider.
"I…was going to ask her to stop chatting so she could look at her paperwork," he quickly told him.
The blonde rolled his eyes, but played along, wondering just what his superior was planning.
"I told you, you can't use these lines for personal use. It costs us," Mustang went on when there was no response.
Barry, confused, stared at the phone for a moment before guessing what the woman was trying. "I'm sorry," he eventually replied, putting on a high, feminine voice. "I nagged him. I just wanted a few words with you, to tell you about how Falman and I are soon moving in together!"
Before she replied, the dark-haired officer heard a thump, which she presumed was Falman banging his head on the wall in annoyance, frustration and even despair.
"Ah, I see. I guess I can chat for a little bit. I'll call you from a booth outside."
"Okay," Barry replied cheerfully.
Mustang put the phone down. "I'm sorry, First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant, but if I don't finish this call, Barbara will be trying to call for the rest of the day and I won't able to get anything done."
"I understand," Breda said, nodding.
The First Lieutenant stood there for a moment before replying, "Yes, Ma'am. I understand too."
As Mustang walked past Breda, she flicked her eyes at him and then the door. Once she had left, Breda turned to Hawkeye. "I guess I'll have my break, now. See you in half-an-hour, First Lieutenant," He left, trying to look as casual as he always was. For a moment the other man stood silent again, before walking out the door towards his own desk, shaking his head as he did so.
The plump brunette caught up the Colonel just as she was entering a phone booth at the end of the street, and stood outside it, eyes sharp.
"You done acting like a weirdo, lady?" Barry told the woman as he picked up the ringing phone. Falman stood next to him, his arms folded.
"I'm just always worried about the Military lines being tapped," the woman told him in a disgruntled tone. "And I suppose I should thank you for being quick-witted enough to realise what I was doing. Anyway, let's talk about how we are going to break Maria Ross out of prison."
"Eh? Oh. You don't need to do anything. I'll just barge through the gates and fight my way in and to her. Geh heh heh!"
"…Right," the woman mentally scolded herself at not expecting that response. "Once you've found Maria Ross, go down the second alleyway in the warehouse street."
"Yes, Milady!"
"Oh, and don't kill any police or employers or anyone else unless there is no other opinion."
"I understand. You'll get pissed at me otherwise, right? I can't upset the love of my life! Now, how to start off this little venture without it looking suspicious…oh, I know!" The man turned to Falman. "I'll make it look like you're my prisoner!"
The Flame Alchemist couldn't help but cringe as a loud crack sounded.
"What was that?" Breda asked, hearing the sound through the closed door, so he opened it.
"I know Falman wouldn't agree to this, so I had him…taken out for a bit."
"You'd harm us if it meant your plan goes ahead without a problem?" Breda commented, though still in a questioning tone, unknowingly backing away slightly.
"He'll be fine in an hour or so. Besides, Barry knows what will happen if he really does harm him." Mustang had placed the phone back down and was jotting a list as she spoke. "Breda, it is extremely urgent that you gather these items for me." She ripped out the page of the small book and held it back for him to take as she stepped out of the booth.
"The bones and flesh of a pig, carbon, ammonia, phosphorous, sulphur, lime," the other officer read aloud. "What are they for?"
"To mock up a burnt corpse."
"Wait…that kind of sounds like you're going to try Human Transmutation."
The woman folded her arms as she quickly responded, "Don't be so stupid. It's just what a burnt human corpse could look like."
"But the autopsy with discover that. And the lack of organs will be suspicious." Breda threw his arms out in both concern and disbelief.
"I can't take any risk using organs because, one, the DNA would be recognised as not being Ross's and I'm certainly not going to steal them from the hospital, where people really need them. Besides, you can't analyse something reduced to charcoal."
They started walked back to the HQ.
"And what are you going to do when they find out through dental works?" The brunette questioned further.
"Hm…I'll have the First Lieutenant take care of that." The Colonel sighed. "He thinks I'm going too far with handling Hughes's death. He's not going to be happy, but I know he'll follow the order. I guess I'll have to explain my code to him too. Anyway, the main components' of a human tooth is calcium and sodium. If I can get my hands on these, it should be easy to alchemise some teeth."
"Man, alchemy sure can do a lot. But how can you do it?"
"It may not be my speciality, but I do have the knowledge. And burnt corpses are my speciality."
"After that, when Barry entered the detention centre and encountered the Young Mistress, who had been arrested for illegal entry in the country, and helped her and Miss Ross escape." Fu added, taking over to explain his side. Everyone was sitting in a circle, either on rocks, or the dusty, uneven ground. Edwina was listening intensity to each sentence. Fu and Mr. Han sat in the more casual Xingese custom of legs folded and hands clasped on top of one another and Ross could finally relax - after she had reached an agreement the Strong Arm Alchemist could simply pat her on the head if he was that desperate to comfort her.
"The plan went along smoother than I thought it would," Breda stepped back in.
"You are Maria Ross, correct?" The Colonel asked the woman. She saw fear, yet also defiance, in the other woman's eyes as she slowly nodded. The older female did not notice the Second Lieutenant's little yelp as she turned to the bin in the alleyway and pulled out the dummy. Even with the bones inside and flesh pieces sewn to it, she was surprised by how human it still looked. She turned back to the other soldier as she threw it on the floor. "Tonight, you shall die here, Maria Ross."
The woman ignited the dummy, causing the now confused Second Lieutenant to throw up her arms and stumble back in surprise as she unleashed some of the most powerful flames she could muster. For a moment, she checked the 'corpse' for any intact piece, before walking up to the other woman. "Come on, now." Ross yelped a "What?!" as she was lifted up and dropped into the large bin. As she landed another unfamiliar face appeared above her.
"Shh," Havoc hushed as she opened her mouth to demand an explanation. He gestured to the hole in the wall behind him. "This way, hurry." With no other opinions Ross got on her hands and knees to follow the man. She tensed when he looked down and grabbed her wrist.
"Oh," he said as he looked at the prison band. "Excuse me." Using a pair of pillars from his jacket, he cut of the chain before opening the bin and holding the band out. "Hey, Colonel, you forgot about this,"
The Flame Alchemist paused and turned back. "Damn. Thank you, Havoc." As the man closed the lid again, she placed the broken band around the wrist of the dummy.
In the next street, Falman was arranging the rubbish to cover the hole. "I hope that's enough. This isn't part of the plan anyway. The Colonel can handle any problems."
"Will you just tell me what the hell is going on?!" Ross hissed, angry but still sensing she had to keep quiet.
"Later," the fellow Second Lieutenant replied. "Come on."
Again with no other options, she followed him with her eyes and ears sharp.
"Mr. Havoc took Miss Ross to an apartment next to that of the other solider, Falman, and hid her there. In the next building, having watched the events, the Young Mistress reunited with myself and Lan Fan, and ordered me to escort this lady to the East. Of course, I had to speak with these soldiers first, and they took some convincing." He gave a sideways glance at Breda. "So I contacted a friend from the Han Clan. He helped us enter Amestris." No-one had noticed the female Second Lieutenant flushing slightly at being addressed as 'lady'. "We had entered the country using a secret route, and in exchange for using that route, these soldiers told us the secrets of Barry's body."
"Mr. Fu was a good escort. He did not overuse violence like Barry, and knew that I could still handle myself, and just acted as an extra pair of eyes." She smiled at the old man, and he acknowledged it with an incline of his head.
"To arrange a link-up here was another of my orders," Breda continued.
"And I was to wait at Rizenbul and receive communications from Second Lieutenant Breda," Armstrong added. "I was also to bring Edwina Elric along while making it seem natural. So my first through was an automail repair. Though I had to turn it into, well, a kidnapping."
"Speaking of which, when can I get my arm repaired?" the female alchemist asked in a disgruntled tone. She was infuriatingly ignored and went quiet again.
"Well, now that everyone is caught up, let's get down to the other reason we're here – to exchange information." Breda paused and reached into one trouser pocket and pulled out a small black book, marked with tabs of various colours. "This is the information the Colonel obtained, and I'm in charge of bringing and sharing it here. From now on, we don't hide anything from each other as long as we're here."
Edwina was reluctant, but as she listening to the others expressing everything they knew, she opened up as well. Armstrong assisted further by drawing up pictures. He was now working on Lust, from what the Flame Alchemist had confided in him, perfect pictures of Envy and Greed already on the ground.
"So, the busty one is Lust," Edwina concluded as they went over everything.
"The wispy one is Envy. He brought Edwina out of the lab…" Ross remembered.
The blonde cringed at the thought of that thing touching her while she was unconscious.
"And the leader of that gang is Greed, who is presumed dead along with his gang," Armstrong reminded everyone.
"Homunculi are real…the Young Mistress will be pleased," Fu said to no one in particular, speaking for the first time since his explanation of Maria's escape. "This country is rather…amazing…"
"It might be worth meeting up with Dr. Marcoh again," Breda suggest. "Apparently, he has been studying up on them even more lately."
"Yes, yes, that's a good plan," the Strong-Arm alchemist agreed with a nod as he put away his pen.
"I just want everything sorted so I can go back home and back on duty," Ross said in a slightly aggravated tone. "Surely one of you must have realised I have nothing to do with the Philosopher's Stone or Hughes's death."
"You just have bad luck, My Lady," Fu said. "You do not have the eyes or aura of a cold-blooded killer."
"I guess it is safe to say you're not guilty, Second Lieutenant," the plump man spoke up again.
"Isn't it obvious?!" the black-haired solider snarled back.
"It's good," the man smiled, before reaching into his cloak. "I won't be needing this fella, then." He pulled out a rather powerful-looking pistol and everyone else, who in moment were huddled together, reeled back. "In the unlikely event that Second Lieutenant Ross really is the culprit, I had orders from the Colonel to kill her after getting whatever information she had."
Silence and shocked or disgusted faces greeted him.
"She was reluctant in ordering it; she said there was no other way."
Still silence. Then Edwina spoke.
"So, Hughes really is gone…" the female alchemist muttered, her denial finally breaking. "Maybe I shouldn't have spoken to his wife…"
The male Second Lieutenant's head shot around to her, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You met up with Mrs. Hughes?"
"Yeah," the rather obvious teenager continued. "To give her the gist of what happened and to thank her for looking after us."
"You idiot!" Breda yelled. Everyone tensing up as the man reached out and grabbed the young woman by the collar of her cloak. "Don't you understand how dangerous it is to tell the victim's family about the event, especially before all evidence is gathered?!" He released her as he continued. "It seems like you never think things through! You little…brat!"
"We didn't have much of a choice, considering the circumstances…and well…just…just believe in me!"
"What the hell does that mean?" the brunette growled.
The girl bowed her head. "Mrs. Hughes told us to keep going, to 'Walk forward down your path according to your beliefs'." Again, she unknowingly reached out and gripped her metal arm. "For those who have committed a forbidden act, there are people who are angry, there are people who co-operate, and there are people who give us support. For my sister and I, Mrs. Hughes is the last one, few of them that there are. I made a pact with Al to get back to our original bodies any way possible, and once we know the way to do it, there will be no going back, and no regrets. That's basically what Mrs. Hughes told us." A flash of rage entered her emotions, and her eyes narrowed. "But if that method involves sacrificing someone, I won't do it. We will protect them from it, even if they are willing to do it. We will protect them using these…damaged hands. Furthermore, with all things considered, I think my pride also plays a big role in that. However, it wasn't until Hughes died, and his wife's words that I realised the limits of this body." The anger slipped away. "So I really am an idiot."
"You sure are, you're an idiotic, cocky little brat," Breda replied, standing up to look down the girl after everyone else remained quiet, now with concerned or intrigued looks on their faces. Expect the female soldier.
"Breda!" Ross yelled, jumping up as well, one of her hands clenched in a fist.
"However…" Breda couldn't hide the smile pulling at his lips. "You are an honest, noble idiot. Just give it all you've got."
The dark-haired soldier looked surprised for a moment, but along with her superior, smiled as the girl nervously grinned back.
"Anyway," Breda began, sitting back down. "What are you going to do?" He addressed the other Second Lieutenant.
"Well, as I said, I want to go back on duty as soon as possible, but I suppose I still need to hide until things have completely settled down. So I'm accepting Mr. Fu's offer to take me to Xing."
"All the way to Xing?!" Edwina yelped, leaping up. The woman chuckled in response. "Weren't you listening earlier? This man's mistress arranged with him and myself that I flee to the East." She looked sad for a moment. "It feels like once I set off, I can never return to Amestris…" The young alchemist also felt sad.
"Don't worry, My Lady," Fu said, his voice unusually kind. Mr. Han was saddling up the horses as he listened. "I will have my whole clan take care of any necessity you require."
"At least let us tell your parents you are alive and safe, Second Lieutenant," Armstrong suggested, walking forward and placing a hand on her shoulder (he wasn't going to attempt another hug).
The short-haired woman's forlorn expression changed to a frown, her head giving a small shake as she replied. "In the unlikely event that my parents found out I am alive, they would no doubt tell everyone they know, and we wouldn't be able to repair the damage it would do. For parents who had a daughter declared a murderer and then murdered herself, they have gone enough heart-break. While my turning up alive would make them happy, they would just fall back into sadness when having to see me off."
"First Sergeant Brosh has also fallen into a depression over this. Can I not at least—"
"No, don't!" the female Second Lieutenant yelped, waving her hands in a slight panic. "Brosh can't keep a secret or tell a lie to save his life!"
The Strong-Arm Alchemist sniffed, the hand on the other younger officer's shoulder shaking.
Ross placed her own hand over it. "Please keep your spirits up, Sir. Things will get better. Everything will be resolved, I know it."
Fu and Mr. Han mounted their horses as the female Second Lieutenant approached hers. Once by it, she turned back and said, "Sir, could you and the other Second Lieutenant here convey this to Colonel Mustang? – 'If not for your plan, I would have been waiting on death row. I am grateful for being able to leave with my life.'" The two male soldiers nodded. "And, Major, if there is an emergency, do not hesitate to call me back." She stood to her full height, her chest puffed out as she saluted. "To pay my debt of gratitude, I will use the life I have reclaimed to be of absolute use."
Upon seeing the other soldiers salute in response, Edwina raised her hand to do the same, but the woman walked over to her and, like the Major had to her, placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder, along with a gentle smile. "Edwina, keep your spirits up as well."
After a few failed attempts, the fifteen-year-old managed a smile, and took the woman's hand, the both of them squeezing each other's' in a comforting, 'good luck' manner.
"I owe you one slap in the face," Edwina said, trying to keep the mood light.
"Next time, then," Ross replied with a laugh.
"'Next time'…I hope so…" the almost-bald man muttered to himself.
The three soldiers watched them until the sands seemed to swallowed them
"You have good comrades there, even the girl," Fu commented to Ross as he looked back and the now-unable to be seen group.
"Mr. Fu," the dark-haired female began, not looking back at him. "What kind of country is Xing?"
"We are rich in people and food, and our pockets and hearts are deep. Like everywhere, it has its flaws, but it is still an excellent country."
Ross took a moment to reply. "Would it be ok if I thought that, once we crossed this desert, a paradise awaits me?"
A little confused, the old guard responded, "It will feel that way, as this is a most harsh journey."
He looked at the woman beside him and saw the hidden sorrow. "Do as you told your companions, My Lady. Keep your spirits up. We cannot afford to waste any more water."
At the ruins, the three soldiers were preparing their own horses.
"Going back through the desert…just thinking about it makes me want to pass out," Breda was grumbling.
"Oh, can we just wait a bit more?" Edwina asked. "There's something I need to check."
"What is it exactly? I will accompany you," Armstrong stated.
"No, it's ok," The girl was already running, her limp automail flapping against her side. "I'll be back shortly!" The two men shook their heads.
As she headed back upstairs a man a woman, one robed and the other in a bandana and tank top, their feet bare and bandaged, turned to each other in their corner and nodded. Slowly and silently, they drew out their weapons and followed the blonde. As the Fullmetal Alchemist arrived at her destination, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she looked up at the symbol she had passed.
"Comparing to a normal Transmutation Circle, this is something much more powerful," Edwina mumbled to herself she walked around, taking in the pentagon and noticing the writing around the edges that she had not before. "Is that the Xerxes language?" She moved around the side a bit and noticed the Amestris-esque Dragon had two heads. "Five suns, a two-headed dragon, and ancient text…" the girl put it together inside her head as she paced up and down. "It looks like the one in the Fifth Laboratory but…" She glared at the missing piece of roof. "If only one piece wasn't missing! And just when I—"
Just then, she heard a heavy swishing noise behind her and turned around just in time to jump with surprize before sidesteping as a dark-skinned, bandana-wearing man swung a wooden club at her head. As the man took another heavy swipe, she quickly grabbed his outstretched arm in her own left one, anf used her automail leg to sweep his legs out from under him. He landed on the floor with a grunt, and the golden-eyed teenager twisted the arm behind his back as she used her automail knee to further keep him pinned.
"What is your intention?" she asked in as threatening voice as she had. "I don't have any money, so you can forget mug…" her voice faded out as the man managed to turn his head to glare at her. "You're Ishvalan?"
She heard another noise behind her and looked behind to see a blur of black and white rushing at her. Instantly, she released the man on the ground, and, with no other options, blocked the blow with her left arm, the machete blade slicing a thin, but thankfully not very deep wound. Edwina still hissed in pain. The man decided to stand back and watch in glee. For a moment, she had time to look at her second attacker – a short-haired Ishvalan woman, looking to be in her late twenties and dressed a long black tunic with an open, hoodless robe over it and bandages disappearing into her sleeves. Her feet were bare, and the girl glanced bandages on her legs.
"I had a feeling you weren't alone," Edwina said to the man as she sidestepped another swing, bringing her closer to him. She paid no attention to the droplets of blood sprayed on the ground or oozing from her arm. "A simple thief wouldn't come all this way."
The girl evaded at least five more attempted slashings and stabbings before the woman took a few steps back, placing the blade in an inside pocket in her robe.
"Giving up?" Edwina taunted. "What kind of —" Suddenly, it was she who was on the ground. The woman had tackled her, head first. They crashed onto the hard ground, leaving the alchemist momentarily winded. The woman straddled the blonde's waist and pinned her wrist above her, before re-drawing her blade and placing it at her throat. The teenager found herself admiring the woman's raw, muscular power.
"I'm sorry but you can't collect a ransom for me, as my parents are no longer around," Edwina said calmly, still feeling she could taunt.
"We are not here for money," the woman spoke up in an equally calm but intimidating tone. With it so close, the alchemist noticed a burn scar that covered the right half of her face and travelled to the side of her neck. "For the liberation of Ishval's sealed-off areas, as well as the request for the national army to pull out of the of holy lands, which they tread and defile, you will become our hostage, young lady." Edwina suddenly noticed two more Ishvalan men, standing behind the first, appearing middle-aged or older (their natural white hair often made it hard to know), bearded and clad in pale-coloured and hooded robes with cloth wrappings.
"Well, that's a stupid plan," Edwina replied bluntly after accessing the situation. "You think the Military's going to drop everything just to save one brat? I'm a solider too, you know."
"Public opinions can be changed," the woman went on. "…like seeing the army kill children, for instance. The Ishvalan rebellion started over the shooting and death of one of our children."
The blonde's widened for a moment. She had forgotten about that.
"Do you not understand the motives for such actions, girl?" one of the older men, with a scar on his cheek, asked. "It is to prevent such pain and suffering happening again."
Suddenly, a much younger voice spoke. "Lady Shan! Please stop!"
The teenager, woman and men looked to see a young boy and an old woman, moving towards, the child, worry etched on his features, running while the woman, in her hunched over figure, did some kind of trot with her walking stick.
"This brat is insulting the name of Ishvala," the late twenties female snapped at him.
"Even so, this is not the way to act." The old woman addressed the entire group sternly. They all froze. "This young woman has done nothing to us bar defend herself. A hostage would only make things worse. We would be as bad as our enemies."
The machete-wielder refused to move. The bare-footed boy, one eye blind and his neck and shoulder mottled with burn scars, moved closer to her timidly. "Please, Lady Shan, release that girl," The woman saw tears in the child's eyes as he spoke quietly. "She doesn't look that much older than me. How can you even think of such a thing…?" Flashing a venomous glimpse at the Amestrian, she stopped and re-joined her fellows, putting the knife back once more.
The leader approached Edwina as she stood, brushed herself down and adjusted her coat.
"I apologise for the transgressions of my followers." She told her.
"It's fine," the blonde replied. She noticed the woman wore a dirt-stained eye patch.
"My dear, would you please take care of this young woman's wound?" the boy stepped towards the girl, slowly, pulling out a cloth and a tiny bottle of cleaning alcohol from his trousers pockets as she did so. As he cleaning and wrapped the cut, the old woman continued to speak. "I know all too well the hatred between Amestrians and Ishvalans. However, as we were all driven from our land and chased to this wilderness, do not expect us to simply forgive your peers."
"Then why are you helping me? Again, I'm a solider too."
"As with all groups of people, we know not all Amestrians are evil. Our lives were saved by two Amestrian doctors."
Edwina's mind immediately went to the two Amestrian doctors she knew personality, but then thought it was too much of a convenience.
"My great aunt, Lady Shan and I were all treated by those doctors when we were injured in the Civil War," the boy spoke up again, his voice so gentle and constant to the others. "They told us that, as medics, it was their duty to treat everyone, regardless of what side they were on. For what happened in Ishval, I bear hatred towards even honest people like you, but because of those two people that I cannot hate you as much."
Edwina acknowledged the boy's statement with a nod, her thoughts returning still on the two doctors. "If these really are the same doctors I know, a married couple who were sent to Ishval during the war…" Her fist clenched. "Then it seems my life was indirectly saved by them as well." She glanced at the limp metal limb.
"Wait," the boy's voice rose slightly and he paused in wrapping the cut. "A pair of married doctors? Are you referring to the doctors Rockbell?!"
"Eh?" the girl surprised teenager responded a slightly high voice. "You know of them?"
"'Know of them?'" They were the ones who saved our lives! They were the ones who said that they had to treat everyone." The boy spread his arms out for a moment as he looked up at the sky. "You were aquatinted with those wonderful people too! It's must be fate that we have met you!" He looked back at the young woman, finishing up as he did so. "I feel my hate fading a little more." He smiled a little bit at the girl, while the other men and woman were exchanging looks and quiet words before looking back to the conversing trio. "'We have a son about your age', they told me." The boy went on. "I wish I could meet him, and give him my gratitude thoroughly!"
"Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell…what heroes," Edwina said, her lips also spreading into a small smile.
"Even when the rebellion worsened with the command to eliminate us all, they never left and continued saving lives until their last moments," the old woman told her.
The blonde's face instantly fell as she remembered Winter's sobbing form. "…How was their final moments?"
The leader and her grandnephew's faces also fell, the child's lower lip quivering. Eventually, the woman spoke again. "They were treating other patients when…they were killed by an Ishvalan." The girl's eyes expanded in horror while the Ishvalans bowed their heads, tears running down the child's cheeks. "And it wasn't just any Ishvalan, but one who's life they had just saved!" In her mind the scene played out. She sat against along with everyone else, holding her grandnephew for protection, only able to watch as the man, uttering a scream of rage mixed with what seemed to be anguish, brutally dispatched the man and woman. They watched as the man stood from the bodies, blood dripping from one hand, glaring at them all, before he turned and run out down the street and disappeared. "There was nothing we could do; we were so shocked and afraid. We were cowards."
"Who and where is this man?" Edwina growled through clenched teeth.
"His face and most of his body was bandaged, so we could not identify him. But we do know this – he had a tattoo on most of right arm, and was a Warrior Priest." Edwina nodded once, her eyes still narrowed. "The operation to exterminate us started soon afterwards. As soon as it did start, the makeshift hospital fell in the hands of the Military. Lady Shan and I barely escaped with my grandnephew, but others were not so lucky." The woman bowed her head. "I just hope they did suffer too much…"
"I see. Thank you for telling me this." With that, the golden-eyed girl started walking, heading towards the staircase.
"You are leaving?" The group leader asked.
The girl stopped and looked back. "Yes. I think I've made my own group wait long enough."
"If I may give you one order – if you have the chance, could you visit the Rockbells' tombs to express our thanks and…apologies?"
"Especially mine," the boy croaked. "Since I guess their son might not want to meet me after learning what happened to his parents."
"I will," the alchemist replied solemnly. But I'm not telling Winter anything. He's suffered enough.
When she returned to Armstrong and Breda, they had not suspected a thing, but were thinking about looking for her. After making up an excuse about her cut ("I tripped and scarped my arm….and well…I'd stolen some bandages from the hospital just in case, so…") apologising to them for the wait, they mounted their horses and made the exhausting trip back. Armstrong was surprised by how quiet his young friend was. Breda did most of the speaking (and complaining) and did wonder if something more had happened during her absence).
They arrived back at Rizenbul hours later, and it was too late to get a train as the evening was rolling in (the small village did not need many of them).
"Thank you very much, good sir," Armstrong said to a kind villager, one of Trisha's once-friends, who had offered them his covered wagon. Breda just stared at it with the air of a moody child. He just wanted to sit somewhere comfortable and take a nap.
"Oh, I'll need to get my arm fixed first," Edwina remembered as she put the sand cloak into the back of the wagon.
"Oh, yes, that's right. Shall I accompany you, this time? I'd like to see Mrs. Pinako Rockbell again."
"No, sorry, I'd like to on my own again," Edwina replied, feeling for some reason, guilty. "But I'll tell her you were asking for her."
"Well, thank you. We'll be waiting here."
Breda sighed, but saluted as Armstrong waved her off again.
As she walked with one hand in her pocket, Edwina looked at the graveyard, and decided now was a good a time as any. After waiting for a farmer and his sheepdog guiding his held back to their home (she smiled at the familiar scene) to pass, she headed in. However as she opened the gates, she saw a figure standing over her mother's grave. Suspicion and a strange protectiveness becoming her emotions, she quietly approached the man. However, as she a got a proper look at him in the fading sun rays, she instantly stopped, her eyes widened for a moment before narrowing as she noticed his golden, ponytailed hair – her hair.
He's…back?! The girl hissed inside her head, fists clenched as she moved around a little bit to and saw the man's bespectacled face. After ten FUCKING years, it happens like this?! She remembered standing outside her father's study so many afternoons and evenings, asking him why he could not come out and play. She remembered the one and only picture they had with all four of them together and that she and Alphonsa had hidden his face in disgust. She remembered standing there at only four-years-old, holding Alphonsa's hand, watching beside their mother as the man, with what seemed to be a regretful expression, walked out the door. This has to be some kind of cosmic joke! She had not noticed she had walked towards Hohenheim, and now stood only a few feet away from his side.
Upon noticing the footsteps, Hohenheim turned from the grave, and saw the girl, a girl with hair and eyes like his, who stood there with the most bitter expression he had ever seen.
Author's Note: I feel like I finally did something interesting again, but I should really stop saying that (I feel like it is annoying you, dear readers), but Edwina's reunion with Hohenheim, was another part I was looking forward to writing . There will be a few differences there, hopefully. BTW, have you noticed the more subtle changes I have made, in regards to background or one-note characters? Well, again, this is another note where I don't much to say. So enjoy. Thank you ^_^.
I'm also glad I could get this chapter out sooner than the last two .