Third Person Point of View
"Report, Lieutenant."
Roy was being harsh, looking unaffected as Stephanie stared at her legs, getting her thoughts together.
"Lieutenant."
His not so gentle rebuke had her flinching slightly, like a kicked puppy, her thoughts clear on her face, wondering what she might have done to deserve the slightly cruel treatment, not even considering that Roy could the one in the wrong at the moment. He was distancing himself, or trying to. Riza could tell. It had been a long time since he had been able to successfully hide his emotions from her. His shaking hands, clasped tightly behind his back, betrayed how much he hated this entire situation.
She knew he blamed himself for this, but he needed to know. He needed to know if it was his fault-his plans, his orders-that landed their little Stephanie into this mess. And if it was then he was going to keep this behavior up. He was going to drive her away, get her safely away from him and the danger his climb up the ladder of this corrupt country was going to bring, was already bringing.
Riza knew better. And so did Alex. They both were aware of how the woman, teenager really, would follow him to hell with only a snarky remark about the weather, even if she wasn't able to handle it. She would try anyway, just for him. If this was his fault then she would forgive him, no matter the pain, no matter what it was she had actually gone through. He could get away with murder. Hell, if she found out he had killed someone she'd only sigh and take the body off his hands and no one would ever find the poor fucker. Or she'd frame his enemies for it. She always was scary good with forensics. Kept referencing some friend of hers named 'Detective Holmes' who had all sorts of revolutionary ideas.
When she took a deep breath and sat up straighter everyone in the room tensed, but she wasn't paying attention to them. She was studiously ignoring everyone, as if ashamed of the story she had to tell.
"Anyone got chalk? Or a marker? I should create a-"
Riza laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, shooting a look at Roy.
"The Colonel finally took a look at the notes you left him on the privacy arrays. We've had them in place the moment you were moved into this room."
She nodded in thanks, breathing deeply once again to begin her story.
"I boarded the train at the station in Central, and nothing seemed amiss until the train stopped. Someone was going to ask the conductor what was wrong when he entered the room and promptly fell dead. We were taken by surprise by armed men coming from behind as well. I sustained an injury to the back of the head before I knew about them. I was then moved to a secondary location, I don't know what happened to the others who were on the train."
She paused for breath and Roy was bracing himself for what came next, Armstrong resolutely staring straight at the wall, while Riza resisted the urge to take her hand.
"In the secondary location I woke up secured to a chair. All of my personal effects including my coat were gone. My hands were bound apart so that I was unable to use alchemy. Any circles that had been on my person were erased or removed."
Riza observed Roy suppress a wince at that. He knew how terrible it was to have something that powerful, that defining, taken away unexpectedly just when it was needed most.
"It wasn't long before two men entered the room, the one who killed the conductor and one who I did not recognize. I'm going to call him Baldy because he wasn't considerate enough to give a name."
Armstrong gave the smallest of smiles at that, and Riza suppressed her own. Stephanie's usual snark was still there, a good thing. Definitely a good thing.
"Baldy was wheeling in a cart of...tools."
Roy actually did wince at that, the memory of the 'tools' they'd seen no doubt surfacing in his mind, covered in blood. Riza scowled at the mere mention of them, glaring at nothing as the story went on.
"It was made clear that someone of high rank told them that I was responsible for their monetary troubles and became obvious that they were briefed about a majority of my capabilities. A man, tall, slim, long dark hair, small eyes, made the other two leave and informed me that Drachma was a means to an end, and that my hard work and meddling had earned me that...vacation."
That had been what Roy had feared and Armstrong closed his eyes, bowing his head as the Colonel beside him tensed.
"They asked questions and when I didn't, or even couldn't, answer...Baldy became violent."
Riza felt tears welling up in her eyes but she quashed that before it could begin. Things like that happened, she'd known other soldiers before who'd undergone this sort of hardship.
But those soldiers weren't 18. And tiny, so, so tiny.
"Before I continue there is something like a confession I need to make in regards to the illness I have mentioned before that applies here."
Riza zeroed in on the girl in front of her, her comrades beside her also startled by the shift in the retelling.
"It's...actually not uncommon in the children up to the age of 12, but never to the extent that I had it. It's not usually considered a disease, or even an illness, because it's not something that would be harmful under ordinary circumstances. It's eidetic memory. Every single detail, exact, perfect, crisp, and clear. Never forgotten. This is usually a neat thing, something that can be ooohed and awwed over, and then forgotten about, ironically enough. This is because even eidetic memory fades slightly over several days to normal memory and the ability itself never lasts beyond childhood. Except for with me."
Riza stood patiently, waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for the rest of it to be explained while understanding dawned in Roy's eyes. He always had been able to reach conclusions slightly before her. Whatever it was he had realized confused him. His expression changed too many times to properly gauge before he settled on a blank mask that didn't hide the pain very well at all. Riza just focused on what she was hearing, mating it with memories of odd eye movements, scary accurate accounts of cases, and the ways she just knew where paperwork had been put.
"My memory never fades, ever. Everything remains the same, always. I can't get rid of it. My head is full to busting sometimes and I just keep taking in more. There was a time I wanted to bang my head against a wall until I could get amnesia just to forget something. But my brother came up with a pseudo-solution to keep me from going insane. It's an exercise of mental control that takes the form of a metaphorical house, called a 'mind palace'. In essence, it is a place to literally organize thought, memory, and information in such a way that I kind find it and it doesn't drive me crazy. With that background out of the way, I was faced with torture so I sank into myself and hid inside that mind palace. I can't tell you exactly what happened during that time."
There was guilty relief in the air and Alex once again looked back at her, hope filling those expressive eyes, still much more subdued than he usually was.
"But this is good news, you do not remember the most...horrifying parts."
Stephanie shot him a small, shy smile before quickly going back to staring at the blankets on top of her legs.
"But that's the kicker. I experienced it, even though my mind wasn't necessarily paying attention at the time my body cataloged what was going on. At the moment it is all behind a rather innocuous door on the second story that I plan on never opening. But then again, under some circumstances it could open again on its own, I just have to be careful about it and it should stay sealed."
She looked defeated, tired beyond reason for someone who had just 'slept' for weeks. She didn't look up at their expressions, determinedly staring at her legs instead.
"So, I stayed well away from that shit. This is probably the time when the doctor assumed I was in a coma. Once I registered through the dragons pulse that I was alone I returned to the real world, and found that I wasn't secured. It quickly became apparent why. If I weren't an alchemist then I wouldn't have been able to continue from there."
There was a collective wince at that, everyone present remembered the room she had been held in, the state of it.
"As it was I nearly rolled over and prayed for death but I'm not really the 'giving up' kind of person. So I healed the injuries that kept me from continuing immediately."
That admission had Roy bowing his head, knuckles white.
"I used my thumbs to draw the circles and my teeth to take the bandages off, from there the eight fingers that they put in the bowl took about an hour to reattach in a way that they would still be useful."
Alex's shoulders started shaking the moment she said 'reattach' and Riza started making plans to have a 'chat' with the doctor who had sneeringly suggested she had ruined the digits herself. Roy's shoulders were hunched and for once Riza wasn't sure she wanted to know what he had planned for those involved in this.
"I drew a circle on one of my hands for use if I encountered anyone and escaped the cell, avoiding people for as long as possible and eventually seeking shelter in an empty room. I couldn't go any further so I barricaded the door using alchemy and sat down to rest. I hadn't intended to fall asleep but I'm assuming blood loss caused me to pass out at that point."
Riza is almost positive that Roy is remembering finding her, because she knows she is. There was so much blood seeping through the bandages, and on her hands as well, like gloves of crimson paint that had dried in place.
"I was aware of when the military arrived, I remember the Colonel entering the room and I had a vague sense of leaving it. From there you know what happened."
After a beat of silence she held up one her slightly trembling hands to eye the scars,
"I'm told that someone else operated on my hands, they did a shit job. I'm going to have to re-do it. I can't move them at all. My joints catch, you've all seen when I have to pop the lot of 'em to keep them moving without seizing up."
They did see it, and they were most likely kicking themselves for not realizing it wasn't a simple focusing technique. Riza was already planning on forcing more physicals for the girl, more in depth ones at that. She didn't want to be left in the dark about a condition like that again. She would already have been berating the girl for her previous silence if she didn't look so defeated already.
"Right now when they move they catch against nerves, or twist around them or something. Honestly, I think he just went in and tied them into knots around the bone. Most likely while laughing maniacally."
The bandages on her arms caught the light and she transferred her attention to them, curiosity peeking through.
"I never did see exactly what happened to my arms. Guess I'm going to have to give up those 3-quarter sleeves I like. Long sleeves only, from now on I suppose."
Roy couldn't take it anymore, tense and about to blow. He whirled around, expression a deadly, frightening calm. He stalked out of the room, leaving Stephanie to glance up at his receding back before turning to the two remaining officers, more vulnerable than ever.
"Did I do something wrong?"
Riza's heart seized and she moved forward, gently threading her fingers into the girls hair, supporting her head with that hand as the other helped maneuver her to lay down.
"No, Stephanie. Nothing like that. Just go back to sleep for now. He just needs to get his head in order."
She looked unconvinced, but lay down anyway, grumbling.
"I've probably slept enough, ya know."
Riza only rolled her eyes, continuing to run her fingers through soft brown hair. She nodded to Alex, who had been hovering in the doorway. A single look conveyed all he needed to know. They were going to find who set up their officer, and they were going to tear them to pieces. If Roy bothered to leave them as anything more than ashes, that is.