A/N: Next chapter! We're getting very close to the end. For those of you that have asked I will be rewriting the sequel to Lightning Strike as well. Not sure about book three yet. But I hope you enjoy the last few chapters of the rewrite!
Chapter 53: Helpless
"You were gone awhile" Al told me worriedly some time later when Envy returned me to my room. "Are you okay?"
Actually I was a ball of several confusing emotions at that point. Many of them having to do with the homunculus I'd been kissing only minutes ago. But through all of the uncertainty I managed a smile.
"Actually, I think I am."
Al stared at me for a long moment. "Wow... you're telling the truth."
I glared at him. "Good god, what are you? A lie detector? And it's not that weird that I'm telling the truth. I tell the truth all the time."
"Not really." Al chuckled. "You like to hide your feelings, Liz. You're notorious for it."
"Hmph" I muttered plopping down on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. "Well I'm in a good mood now, so there."
"Okay, okay," Al relented. "So uh…what did the homunculi's master want?"
And there went the good mood.
"Uh..." My mind started racing through possible lies or excuses.
"Liz," Al cautioned. "Why don't you tell one of those truths you apparently tell all the time."
I let out a groan. "You're way too smart. Fine, I'll tell you."
I informed him about the meeting between Dante and I, though I left out the exchange with Envy afterwards for several obvious reasons. When I fell silent, Al was full of questions.
"So it's been Dante this whole time?"
"Yeah."
"She's in Lyra's body?"
"Yup."
"And she was going to use Rose as her next body?"
"Uh huh."
"But now that you're here she wants to use you."
"That she does."
"And the only reason you're still in here is because she wants to wait for Ed to show up so she can hurt him more."
"Pretty much."
"But she can't do that!" Al burst out. "She can't just hop around taking people's bodies and especially not yours. It's wrong."
"She leads the homunculi, Al," I said. "Her concept of morality might be a little screwy."
"We'll find some way to stop it. To get out of this," Al looked up at me. "But considering everything… why are you in such a good mood?"
"Uh," I rolled over so that he couldn't see the red of my cheeks. "Good question. Probably because I'm going loopy in the head."
"Liz…"
I didn't look at him. Why did this kid have such an effectively, guilt tripping sigh?
"Honestly Al, there are a lot of emotions going crazy in my head right now. You can't help me with them and I really can't tell them to you because… I'm not even sure what the truth is. But you don't need to worry. I'm okay. That wasn't a lie."
And anyway, I couldn't tell him about my conversation with Envy. Especially not the last bit.
"You're Hoenhiem's son? But that means…You're Ed and Al's... half-brother."
"Bingo"
Envy had acknowledged it so casually, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But it wasn't. And it wasn't for Al's ears. Even Envy acknowledged that before he brought me back here.
"About my creator... you probably shouldn't tell the tin can."
"I wouldn't... I could never break that to them."
"Why's that?"
"Because... try to understand. They lost most everything but each other. Brotherhood is the strongest bond they know. They could never accept... they could never handle the truth. They could never understand that they're half-brother was trying to kill them all this time."
"Well when you put it like that…"
It was true. It would destroy Ed and Al to know. So I would have to keep one last secret. For their own good, I told myself. Of course that's why I had kept Hughes a secret from them and that hadn't ended well. But at least until this ordeal with the homunculi was over, they didn't need the truth.
"I don't know," Al said softly. "I think your good mood was just sucked out of you."
I managed a short laugh. "Guess so."
I had slowly grown to hate the color red. Because everything in my stupid recurring nightmare was shadowed by it. Red skies and black silhouettes. This time there was no one I knew at the crest of the hill. Just the gate. In front stood a girl. Brown hair, black eyes. I raised my hand and she raised hers.
She was me.
The gate started to slowly open and I heard a strange voice that sounded young and old, female and male, all at the same time. "We are coming toward the end little light-ning al-chem-ist" the voice said, annunciating every syllable of my title. "Very soon you'll face your choice."
The gate opened slowly. Every part of me wanted to run away but my mirror image just sat there, staring.
"You can easily watch. Wait. Let fate hold the cards" the voice continues as the eyes appeared from the blackness and the snake hands wriggled forth. "Or you can play the cards yourself and take the risk."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "Stop speaking in riddles."
"Equivalency. That is what I mean." The voice sounded like it was smiling sadistically. "A life for a life."
"That's the concept of revenge." My brow furrowed. "It isn't equivalency."
"As you say" the voice said as the gate floated past my look alike and toward me. "Revenge is not equivalency, as it spreads hatred in a cycle that cannot be repaid... but," The arms grabbed at me and yanked me into the gate. "None the less. A life for the life."
I struggled, trying to pull myself back toward the life. My look alike stood before me, staring blankly back at me. Watching as I was dragged in.
"Take fate into your own hands, Elizabeth."
"LIZ!" Someone called out to me. That desperate voice I couldn't quite place. A hand reached out to me, trying to grasp my arm and pull me back. But our fingers slipped right past each other and I was sent swirling into the blackness of the gate.
"Liz!"
I woke to Al's panicked cry, bolting up right in bed. The door to our room was open and Gluttony was dragging Al away.
"Hey!" I snapped, scrambling up. "Where are you taking him?"
"Master said…" Gluttony mumbled, not even looking at me. "Master said to bring him. Older brother is here. They need the younger. And if I'm good… maybe she'll bring back my Lust."
My heart clenched, in spite of myself. Gluttony and Lust were always together. Without her, he seemed so lost. But I couldn't let him take Al. I took a step forward but he swung out at me, forcing me to jump back.
"You stay," Gluttony said. "You wait."
"Liz!" Al struggled against his bonds but Gluttony was stronger than him. I ran for them again but before I could make another grab for Al, Gluttony slammed the door and locked it. I slammed my fists against the wood.
"Dammit."
I had to get out of here. I had to help the brothers. I had to escape before Dante used my body for one of her containers. But how?
I scanned the room for something I could use. A wardrobe sat to one side of the bed. Maybe someone had left something useful in one of the drawers. I jerked open the first. Nothing. And the second and third drawer lay empty two. But the fourth one. When I jerked it open, something shiny caught my eye.
It was my knives. My old knives which Envy took from me a long time ago. And next to them, an old pair of my gloves. I snatched them up, cradling the precious things to my chest. Envy had left them in here. He had wanted me to escape before Dante could use me.
"Thank you," I whispered to the air, tugging on the gloves. "Thank you, Envy. But you're not going to like what I'm about to do with these."
He wanted me to save myself, but he sorely overestimated my survival instincts. I wasn't going to abandon the brother's for anything.
Maybe with these I stood a chance.
I clapped my hands together and slammed them against the door, blasting off the lock. Then I kicked it open, sprinting into the hallway.
"I'm coming guys."
I promise.
The building was a maze. I had no idea where Dante was or where Gluttony had taken Alphonse. I listened but couldn't hear any sign of them. Just faint music playing somewhere inside the city. I tried to trace it, but through the mess of hallways, I just wound up getting more lost.
"Dammit. Why couldn't they imprison me in a less complicated mansion?" I asked. "Where is that music coming from?"
"It's close," a soft voice said from behind me. I whirled around and found myself face to face with a locked door with a tiny, barred window. An actual prison of sorts. And someone was inside.
"Hello?" I called tentatively. "Who's there?"
"I am," the voice replied. There was a flash of movement from beyond the window but I couldn't get a good look at the person inside. I drew closer.
"And who are you?"
"No one important," the voice answered. It was male, as smooth as honey and dark as liquor. "No one important at all. I just want to help."
"Help? Help me find Dante? How can you do that in there?" I asked skeptically.
"I know this place quite well, I've been here for a very long time," the voice replied.
"Yeah, locked in a room."
"Oh, that doesn't matter."
I raised an eyebrow. "How does that not matter?"
"I can go lots of places without having to leave this room, Elizabeth. I have a powerful mind."
I bristled. "How do you know my name?"
"You're just full of questions, aren't you?" the voice asked. "But you don't have time to hear the answers. Aren't you on a tight schedule?"
I glared at the door. "Yes. I am. Tell me how to get out of here and I'll free you."
"You can't free me, I'm afraid, but it makes no difference. I'll help you anyway. Just take a right at the end of the hall, the second left, the third left and the third right. It will get you out of the building. Then head for the opera house. That's the source of the music."
I blinked. "Thank you." I took a step down the hall. "Why… are you helping me?"
"I'm a contingency plan," the voice mused. "As long as Dante is alive, I stay in this room. For the moment, my interests align with yours."
"Not sure what that means really, but thank you uh… mysterious voice."
Said voice chuckled. "Call me Percy, Elizabeth."
"Percy. Right. Great. Thanks for your help." I saluted the door and took off running, scarcely stopping to wonder what that was all about. I'm sure Dante had lots of weird secrets running around down here and I didn't have time to contemplate them all.
Like Percy had said, I was on a tight schedule.
Soon enough, I found myself outside the maze like mansion and on a balcony overlooking the city. Only a few blocks away stood the opera house. Not far now. I jumped over the railing and slid down a low roof to the street. I didn't stop running until I reached the wall of the opera building. Not wanting to go in through the front door, I opted to climb the rough stone up one side and wriggle my way through the window. From there I found myself in the rafters high above a large ballroom. And below me, stood Edward, face to face with Dante.
Dante's ball gown was ripped at the top, exposing rotting flesh. She held a hand over defect, but not before Ed had a chance to see what she really was.
"Just like I thought" Ed muttered. "Your soul is getting too weak to sustain a body. Every time you jump, you leave a little piece behind. Equivalent exchange."
"Equivalency." Dante repaired her dress with alchemy. "Do you really believe in that naive theory?"
"Of course!" Ed exclaimed. "It's the law of alchemy, no, of the entire world. You couldn't have gotten very far without knowing that much."
"A nice little story for the oppressed and to spur children through their lessons" Dante smirked. "The truth is, the law of equivalent exchange is a lie. To gain, something of equal value must be lost. Conversely, if you give something up, you will get a prize in return."
My brow furrowed. That logic made not a bit of sense, honestly. But now wasn't the time to make an entrance. I scanned the room for other homunculi. Only Envy stood off to one side, behind Dante, looking on with a disinterested expression. He wouldn't be so disinterested when I did make my appearance. Rose stood nearby also, cradling her baby.
"Exactly, that's why people work hard at anything they do, because it pays off." Ed was saying.
"Wrong." Dante smiled. "People work hard because they believe it will pay off. But equal effort does not always equal gain. Consider the alchemy exam, which you and Elizabeth passed with flying colors. How many others that day took the exam, spent weeks or years preparing but were not accepted. What did they get for their wasted efforts?"
"Or what about the equal value of a person's life." She clapped her hands together and the stone dragon flew at Rose, scooping up her baby in its mouth and holding the crying infant high above the ground. I stiffened. How dare she threaten a helpless child?
"If I clap my hands this baby won't survive. It's doing all an infant can to survive, crying for help. But if I clap my hands, does that mean the infant was born just do it could die? What does it get in exchange? People can say there is a balance, a logic that everything happens for a reason, that a truth exists to govern us all. No matter how hard you work, when you die, you die."
No. I couldn't stand by any longer. Not while she made disgusting threats. Escape be damned, I wasn't leaving without Ed and Al anyway.
Envy would be pissed at me for this.
I dropped from the rafters, drawing my knives. At once I called upon a blast of energy to destroy the stone dragon. Then, scooping the baby out of its mouth, I slid down the crumbling back to the ground.
"Liz!" Ed exclaimed. Envy straightened suddenly, a look of surprise, anger and maybe even panic on his face. He didn't say anything but glared at me, silently asking why I wasn't long gone by now. I didn't have an answer. So I tore my eyes away from him and back to Ed.
"Hey pipsqueak," I said, handing off the baby to a frantic Rose. It was good to see she still reacted to her child's cry. "Glad to see you're okay."
"You're glad to see I'm okay? What about you? You need to get out of here. Dante wants to use you to—"
"Yeah, I know, she told me," I said evenly. "I had to come down here though. She was being illogical and I wanted to put in my two cents on this philosophy debate." I straightened, looking Dante dead in the eye. "Its true people are driven to the darkest depths by hatred in loss. But sometimes gains come in unseen forms. I watched my family murdered before my eyes and I sought revenge. When it was all said and done though, even when I succeeded, there didn't seem to be any equivalency. Why should I have gone through that... if I gained nothing?"
"But I gained a knowledge, and a sense of humanity that governed my actions. If I hadn't, who knows what might have changed? Who knows if I would've met Ed and Al?" I glared at her. "You say there is no equivalent exchange. The truth is, you may not get your pay off immediately. Those people who took the state alchemy exam, they can learn and use their skills elsewhere! They can gain a sense of perseverance and self-worth. We can't all expect to be compensated for immediately we have to wait! And in that way, things are kept in order. Things are meant to happen in a certain way! Conversely, everything that happens to us marks the course of our lives. Tragedies and triumphs in this world define us."
Dante was silent as she stared at me. I glared coldly back. "You gave up you're humanity Dante... You gave up whatever might've made you human in exchange for immortality. You chose it. That is equivalent exchange isn't it?"
"And what about the homunculi?" she asked smiling. "Did they choose this life?"
"Wrath was innocent before you fed him those stupid stones!" I snapped. "Lust still found that she could live a life not being your stupid puppet. The way I see it, the homunculi are more human then you'll ever be! Because they didn't chose it... they didn't..." my voice had turned to a whisper and I struggled not to glance back at Envy, standing behind Dante. He looked pissed and amazed all at once. "They still have their own free will."
"You do a good job of stating a case" Dante smiled. "But if I kill that child… when would those blessings shower down?"
"Don't use a child to fuel your agenda!" Ed snapped.
Dante smiled and closed her eyes, raising her hands slightly. "You're dad said that too."
Then I saw it, the transmutation circle glowing on the baby's wrappings.
"ED MOVE!" I yelled but there was a flash and a huge, gaping gate appeared behind him. That... same... gate...
Oh God, this was a nightmare.
I lunged toward Ed but Envy moved quicker, seizing me and jerking me away from the entrance as the snake like hands wriggled from the abyss. I struggled with all my might.
"Let me go! Dammit, let me go!"
"Idiot! You'll get caught in it too!" Envy tightened his hold on me as the arms seized Edward and jerked him away. The gates closed. Then it was gone all together.
Along with Ed.
"No..." My knees gave and Envy's grip loosened on me, letting me sink to the ground. My world was absolutely spinning. Edward couldn't be gone. It should have been me. In my nightmare it was always me who disappeared through that gate, not him. "No this wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to… Edward."
"Liz," Envy murmured. He said nothing else, probably because he had no idea what to say.
"Equivalency..." Dante shook her head. "A foolish concept. Now what will Edward get?"
"Shut up!" I snarled, tears streaming down my face. "Shut your damn mouth you monster."
"Keep an eye on her Envy," Dante ordered. "And Gluttony, bring in the stone. It's time we made it complete.
The doors swung open and a pitiful looking Gluttony entered, dragging Al behind him.
I closed my eyes and curled up on the ground. So this was how this all ended? Ed gone and Al used up by the stone. And me… a container for this monster's blackened soul.
It was impressive, really. Somehow, even my nightmares didn't match the horror of this reality.
A/N: Yay cliff hangers. Because I never learn. Hope you enjoyed and be sure to REVIEW!
