Aureate Bonds
Summary: Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed... died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back.
Ratings and Warnings: Rated "M" for sake of expediency and my typical writing style. Intermittent foul and 'descriptive' language, a bit of sarcasm, gender bending (Fem!Edward), brief mentions of homosexuality, occasional mild sexual scenes, etc.
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.
Chapter Relevant References: N/A
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Reviews: Thanks to those that have reviewed and followed and favorited! There were a few more reviews this chapter than the usual (which means more than 3 or 4) and I appreciate each one of them. Most of you guessed who it was that she saw. Let's just say this is another touching chapter… mostly because Evelyn has some very severe emotional issues that she's fought (and ultimately failed) to ignore.
That being said, there is a new chapter to "Aureate Bonds: The Ties That Bind Us". Go check it out!
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XLVI:
She was going to kill her brother, damn the fact she'd come so far to save him. She was going to kick his ass so hard. If she just could function in a way beyond sitting and freaking out and crying like an idiot. If she could just pull her legs under herself and stand up to actually chase him. Evelyn shook as she stared at the cruel image before her eyes as she tried to bring her mind back from the circularly winding babble it was caught in. Pain, hope, confusion, love, anger, and absolute amazement warred in her. She wasn't even sure if that was the depth of her emotions because they roiled so hard within her she was just crying and shaking.
"It's okay," soothed Samantha Dyne, bringing her pained, hurting daughter into her arms, kneeling on the grass to do so. Evelyn still shook, her heart aching. For so long she'd not seen them. She'd not seen her parents for three and a half years. Almost four years. She'd unknowingly grown completely reliant on their stability and kindness in her life and she'd missed them so much. It had been nearly four years since she'd started working to convince herself she was okay without them. And… her mother was here. "It's okay, baby girl." Here and crying. It had to be a dream. It had to be an unbelievably cruel dream. Nothing so nice could happen to someone like her. Not after she'd left them all behind to come here.
But the arms were so warm. They were warm and familiar and she found herself clinging to the smaller woman as Sam sobbed her own tears but ones of happiness. And then Brandon, her father, was there, crouching down to gather both of them up.
'She never was able to cry pretty,' thought the young woman in a distant corner of her mind, noticing how Sam's complexion blotched under her tears.
Oh, this had to be a cruel dream. She just stared at Sam, felt the arm of Brandon, and just felt tears falling without stop. Somewhere, she vaguely heard the door to the house open and vaguely realized Kayal was staring about in confusion. She vaguely noticed Peter staring at her avidly and Amelia with an arm latched about his, probably just as much to keep Peter in place as to give her someone to hold onto during the clearly emotional reunion. She vaguely heard Winry's cry of shock and Pinako asking what was going on.
"Is this real?" she asked blankly, uncertain if it was even audible because her throat felt so tight and her tongue so leaden.
"It's real, princess," murmured Brandon into her hair. "It's real."
"How?" The single word cracked as she tightened fingers into her mother's plain and serviceable linen blouse. "How?" She knew how… somewhat.
"He brought us here, sweetie," soothed Sam, her slight rocking motion pushing at Brandon. "Alphonse brought us." Stilling in her rocking, she pulled back slightly and petted at the sides of Evelyn's head. "Oh, you've grown so beautiful," she cooed, her hazel green eyes warm and still shining with tears. Evelyn was still stuck on trying to comprehend what she was seeing.
"Mom?" Loosening the grip she'd had on Sam's shirt, she shifted to look at Brandon and did not heed the hands that Sam had been holding her with. "Dad?"
"We're really here."
"I hate to break up this moment," came Pinako's jarringly abrupt voice, "but at least get off the ground so we can meet you all properly?" Evelyn looked up and blinked at the soft gaze of her surrogate grandmother. Her eyes were gentle and obviously full of solemn emotion. "Come inside, please."
Turning her gaze back to Sam, she saw the older woman give Pinako a look before looking back to her daughter. "Sounds good, right?"
Evelyn nodded mutely, her mind returning to full capacity with Granny's gruff words. They stood and Evelyn briefly connected eyes with Peter, her longest friend of this life and her sort-of boyfriend and someone she'd fallen for and had thought she'd never see again. He grinned toothily at her though his eyes kept darting glances towards Winry who was still staring in total slack-jawed shock at him and the other guests, Kayal now near her and trying to get a response from her. She felt as Brandon also shifted to reach to her… and her eyes landed on Alphonse.
That aggravating little brother of hers was smiling.
He'd broken his word to her.
Despite the earth-shattering wonder and distress she'd felt, Evelyn found a far more familiar and far more comforting-at-the-moment emotion settle on her. "Alphonse," she said, her voice carrying fairly well considering the smoothness of it and the still somewhat haggard look she still bore. The smile dropped a bit as wariness grew in his gaze.
"Sister," he said cautiously, lifting his hands in the way one made to both shield defensively and placate. He recognized the danger signals. He was practically psychic with her anyway. "Don't."
"You better run." Alphonse, the extremely bright young man that he was, did not need to be told twice. He did not even need to ask why. No. He turned on heel and ran with her right on his heels. She blasted by the princess who stared in confusion, ready and willing to pound the hell out of her brother. Despite the confusion she undoubtedly knew her parents, Peter, and Amelia were feeling, despite the fact that it was incredibly rare for her to lose her temper towards Alphonse and both Winry and Pinako knew it, she chased him. Even as calls to come back resounded from behind them, the pair of them ran.
She did not shout after him as she fled upon the heels of one Alphonse Gavin Elric, knowing good and well that she did not need intimidation tactics and her breath could be better spent on keeping her body moving smoothly as she sent chi through her form. Alphonse, on the other hand, called pleas to her to stop her pursuit and she ignored them, still using every centimeter of her smaller body to catch him. They wound up fleeing all the way into town, past a few amused people, around some indignant people, over a stack of crates, and through a flock of chickens that squawked indignantly, flapping in protest. They bounded about a startled Blair Hobbs and Al vaulted over a dog while Evelyn missed it completely due to it running out of the way. Tripping up the steps of the rail platform only to turn and barrel off one end considering that the train was still there and steaming, barely missing Missus Barnes in the process, Evelyn still pursued her brother until she watched him stumble on some loose rock and take a tumble with a yelp.
Skidding to a halt, her boots gripping better on the gravel than his dress shoes had, she hit her knees next to him. Ignoring the stab of rocks and her still-there anger, she looked him over worriedly despite her emotional tumult. It had been a rather nasty fall and she didn't want her brother permanently damaged. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah," he grunted, pushing up and settling into a cross-legged position. She took a good look at him, noticing his mussed hair, red and sweaty face, heavy breathing, and the gravel that clung to him. The gravel that he soon knocked off with a negligent swipe of his hands and revealed hadn't done much damage other than light scratching on his palms. "You just had to chase me all over Resembool? After I did something nice?"
Reminded of why she was chasing him though she'd not actually forgotten, she growled and punched him in the shoulder, garnering a wince. "Something nice?!" she shrieked as he rubbed at the place where her fist landed. "Something nice?! Al! I left them there for a reason!"
"And I brought them here for a reason," he returned, not retaliating against the slug. His earnest voice did not make her want to punch him again but her gaze demanded more information. He met her eyes steadily and with resolute calm. "Sister… I could see how miserable you were."
"They aren't adjusted to being here," Evelyn snapped and was about to continue her words when he spoke up.
"They've been here for the past four months." She stared until he continued. "Okay, not here in Amestris, but they have been in this world." Looking at her, he gave a sad smile and held open his arms despite still being seated on the gravel strewn ground. "Really. I wouldn't have brought them if I knew they couldn't adapt." Seeing the open invitation, she couldn't help but hug him as her emotions were still so raw and turbulent. He hugged her back, the two of them still sitting on the gravel and ignoring Mister James and Missus Barnes's curious looks from the platform several meters away before they moved on to do their own business.
"But what about Gracia? Mustang?" she protested, pushing away as the thought came to her. "Hughes is dead here, Al. This would be cruel to them if they ever saw him." She'd never told him the fullness of the relationship but she knew that he understood at least part of it.
"The General already knows," returned her brother. She paled. "He agreed to helping them out for a favor, actually. Two, really. That I go with him to see Selim and to let him meet Peter." He frowned. "I'd not expected Selim to remember, really." Evelyn just sat there, looking at her knees and gripping her hands. "I think Mustang needed me to be there in case he lost perspective. Selim immediately recognized us, though, and even stayed away from Mustang for a bit after he apologized."
"And his reaction to Hughes?" asked Evelyn hoarsely. 'Hughes's reaction to Mustang?'
"There was some definite discomfort. To be fair, though, I don't think it was just Mustang that had a moment. I think some part of Peter remembers him." Coughing at the conjured image of the two staring sappily at each other conjured by his words, Evelyn blushed.
"Gracia?" she asked quietly.
"Not yet."
"Well, Gracia at least knows about me and… her husband's reincarnation, but I don't know how she'd handle seeing Hugh… Peter. Her or Elicia." Alphonse nodded. "What about records?" she asked. "They don't have legal rec…" Her voice faltered as her eyes widened.
"Sister?"
"You… You were right there, weren't you? Right there in Central?! While I was there?!"
"Yes," he admitted. "We were trying to make arrangements before you knew about them. Your mom and dad wanted to come and see you badly while you were in Central." Evelyn stared at him in horror.
"You jerk! You could have told me!"
"I wanted it to be a surprise. I asked the General to keep it a surprise. As for the records, that's why I was in Central. We were working on getting their paperwork in order to make them legal citizens under their own names. They're immigrants with permanent resident status technically but the Fuhrer likes you, the General, and me. He doesn't mind occasionally bending a rule here and there so long as it's harmless."
"What will they do here?" she pressed as she thought, 'Of course Grumman would like us! We helped him get the country!'
"I think you'll have to ask that yourself." She considered it and frowned before pointedly punching him again. "Ow! What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing at his shoulder again.
"You broke your word to me!"
"I didn't!"
"Yes, you did! I told you not to mess with my equations!"
"I didn't!" Alphonse returned. "I made my own!"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
"Your well was the only thing I used, Sister," he said loudly over her growls. "But it was my equation that sent me there. It was my equation that sent all of us back. I couldn't use your equation but I could forge a link between the point in which you left and a point in time a few years later. Then I used the other one I'd calculated, using rentanjutsu I might add, to bring us all back to the same spot I'd left." She stared at him. "I told you anything you could do, I could do too," he reminded far more gently. "And I knew you were so unhappy. So very unhappy. You were okay sometimes but other times your memories and guilt for leaving them would nearly crush you. And there were many nights during my recovery you'd dream and call out for your mom and dad. And Peter."
Evelyn felt tears burning at her eyes again and vaguely watched as Al climbed to his feet. He reached to her and she took his hand, permitting his help up. "Why?" she asked, hating the catch in her voice. "I'd gotten to the point it didn't hurt as bad." She had gotten a little numb to the pain, really. She'd missed them so much.
"Regardless of what you might think, Sister," chided Alphonse, "noble self-sacrifice is painful to watch." She felt her cheeks begin to burn in embarrassment. "Especially when you had the ability to make yourself and them happy." Touching at her red face, Alphonse continued. "They were as upset as you were. They missed you terribly and it was no better for them than it was for you, if that's any consolation."
She turned her face away, not happy yet happy at the same time. "You didn't ask."
Sighing in exasperation, Alphonse pointedly gathered her up in his arms and hugged her, tucking her head under his chin. "Sister, are you going to fight me every step of the way on this? Why can't you just let yourself be happy?" A brief and painful memory of Roberto flickered through her mind before it faded and morphed into Peter's face. "I promise, it's not bad." Loosening his grip, he pressed a kiss into her sweaty hair. "Let's get back. I'm sure they've already done introductions, but we need to go back. This is about you."
"Asshole."
"I love you, too." The sarcasm that might have been presented in the statement never came and Evelyn found herself smiling as Alphonse linked arms with her. "Out of curiosity, what did it feel like? Seeing them?"
"Like I was hallucinating, actually," she returned as they walked arm-in-arm back through town to go back out of it. No one watched their change of attitude or inquired after it, knowing full and well the two were exceedingly close. "Like I'd fallen into a dream."
"A very nice one," Alphonse egged.
"No, a very cruel one. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up." He gave her a concerned look but then smiled.
"You won't. You won't open your eyes and find they're gone tomorrow. I promise."
"Your promises are crappy."
"This one I swear my heart to. No worries at all." The soothing edge in his voice helped ease her fears despite her words that struck at his honor. He still worked to soothe her despite her lashing out. Evelyn looked at him from behind Hohenheim's glasses.
"I hope so. I really hope so." They walked in companionable silence all the way back to the Rockbell house, their home. They paused near the steps and paused before the porch steps when Al turned to look at her. Briefly hugging his sister one more time, Al murmured into her hair.
"They're really here. They're just inside. All you have to do is open the door." Releasing her, he smiled. "Okay?"
"Okay." She hesitated before reaching up and grabbing his nose, pulling him down eye-level to her. "But let me tell you one thing, Alphonse Gavin Elric. You do a stupid ass stunt like this again, I'll disown you as a brother."
"Even if it's a good thing?" he asked, his voice flat and odd due to the grip on his nose, his brow wrinkled because of her move.
"You shouldn't mess with the Gate."
"You did," he returned, batting her hand away. "You went head to head with it how many times in two lives?"
"All were life-or-death circumstances," she growled. "Mainly your life." He considered her and then took one hand to bear down on her head, eliciting a squawk from her as he mussed her hair up.
"Haven't you figured it out yet that I look out for you, too, and in meeting your parents I've learned lots more about you?" She sulked. "Don't be angry at me, Sister. Just let yourself be happy. Please?" She didn't respond but instead stormed up the steps. Evelyn heard him huff in exasperation behind her and then followed her up.
Upon opening the front door, she saw that the front room was empty and realized they'd probably gone into the kitchen. At least, that was what it sounded like and a good number of the photos on the wall were gone as were some of the photo books that Granny kept on the shelf.
"Oh, hell," she groused, getting a bad feeling. "They're sharing pictures." Alphonse chuckled behind her.
"Scared?"
"Yes. Very. The last thing I need is them swapping war stories about raising me." A push at her back accompanied by a low laugh sent her through the door and she glared at her brother before moving towards the kitchen. Sure enough, Granny was sitting there at the end of the table, Amelia and Sam on either side of her as she showed pictures, Brandon looking over her shoulder. Peter sat at the other end of the table and was talking to Winry, the mechanic caught between sheer emotion of joy and driving curiosity at having finally met the man that Evelyn had called her longest best friend. Mei and Kayal sat with them, Kayal a bit concerned seeming by Winry's blatant excitement. Their entry, of course, did not go unnoticed and Pinako looked at her and plucked her pipe from between her teeth.
"Well, you two look like hell. How far did you chase him?"
"We got all the way to the train station," admitted Alphonse with a deprecating laugh. Winry gave them a surprised look.
"Did you two tie up and fight?"
"No. He wouldn't punch back," huffed Evelyn, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Al. He merely smirked and wound up looking far too smug for her tastes. "And it feels wrong to whale on someone that wouldn't fight back."
"Never stopped you from hitting me," groused Peter, garnering a snort from Amelia.
"Last I recalled, Pete, you gave as good as you got." She flashed a grin at Evelyn and a spike of dread went down the young woman's spine. "So… How have you been, sweetie?"
"Fine… Mostly."
"Mostly?" she teased, ignoring how Bran rolled his eyes.
"Leave her alone, Amy," he said in exasperation, hooking Evelyn into his side. "You grew," he mused, his daughter not fitting the same as he had expected. "Didn't know they could-" Evelyn reached up and slapped a hand over his mouth.
"Take your own advice!" Oh, she knew what he'd been about to say and she didn't care to have his remark about her height redistributed to a new crowd just yet. Laughter cascaded and he just hugged her tighter, rubbing at her shoulder as she dropped her hand. It just felt good to be held by him but her eyes trailed to Peter and he was looking back. There was a moment and he smiled in such a way it reached his eyes and she felt reassured that he wasn't angry she'd not paid attention to him yet.
"Come on and sit down," Sam said, patting at the chair next to her. "Sorry if I'm smothering, but I've missed you, Ed." With so many vying for her attention all at once, Evelyn glanced over to Alphonse and saw he'd taken a spot near Brandon, peering at pictures even as Brandon pointed to one.
"Who's in that one?" asked her father as she settled down next to her mother and felt the brush of Peter's fingers against her knee.
"Oh, that one's Ed and Al's father and me," Pinako said after a glance. There was a notable pause.
"Wait, the same guy in this one?" He gestured to the loose photo of Hohenheim, Trisha, and their sons.
"Yes." Sam blinked, and shifted to look.
"How old were you in this picture, Missus Pinako?"
"Pinako, dear. Please drop the 'missus'. And I was in my twenties." She looked at the befuddled woman as she puffed on her pipe. "Hohenheim and I went a good ways back knowing each other. That one's wearing his glasses." Evelyn rolled her eyes as she was pointed out with a jab from the stem of the pipe. "Shame you didn't come a few years ago when he was still around."
"Actually, if you met Tiffany's boyfriend ever, you'd have met him," she told her parents and Peter, sending her eyes around the table. "James is his reincarnation."
"We didn't get to meet him," her mother mused before she shook her head. "It's weird to think that we're in the past." Evelyn happened to catch Kayal's increasingly confused look.
"You okay?" she asked. Winry looked to her boyfriend and caught sight of the perplexed expression.
"Kayal?"
"I don't get what's going on," he admitted.
"I'm not surprised," mused the female alchemist. "You want an easier explanation?" Fingers from Peter's hand tightened on her knee and she looked over to see the somewhat protective expression there.
"I'll take it," the coal miner told her. "I mean…" He faltered and looked about, seeing the serious gazes on him.
"Truth be told, son," drawled Pinako. "The person known as Edward Elric…" She picked up a photo featuring one of the last images ever taken of her grandson and slid it towards that end of the table. Amy took it and passed it on after a quick glance and Mei looked as well before handing it on to Kayal. He took it and examined it. "Well, he died." Kayal's eyes snapped from the photo to Evelyn even as Amy cringed slightly. There was no denying the sober, flat tone in Pinako's tone even as she picked up another loose picture and handed it on.
Evelyn shrugged slightly with a sad smile. "I died and came back as a girl. It really was a bad alchemy accident…" She shrugged again. "I don't know how I did it, but I remembered who I was. And then I came back here to fix some stuff."
"So," Kayal said slowly. "When you had your name changed…"
"Evelyn Alma Dyne was my birth name. Given to me by my parents, Sam and Brandon." She tilted her head towards them. "Amelia Brown was Dad's partner as a homicide detective and…" Evelyn looked to Peter. "Peter Brown is her son and my friend growing up…"
"By the way, I like the glasses on you," he commented with a grin. Her answering smile was a bit sad.
"I gave away the ear cuff you gave me. To Mustang," she told him. "I'm sorry but I thought he'd appreciate it." His expression changed to something between thoughtful and confused before he shook his head. She felt a brief surge of guilt, thinking about Roberto, before forcing the emotion down. There would be time to deal with it later.
"Right. S'okay."
Returning her gaze to Kayal, she continued. "When I had my name changed, I changed it to sort of incorporate both lives though no one really knows that except…" Thinking it over, she mused, "Well, other than those here, the list would pretty much be Mustang, his goons, Riza whom I name separate for fear of her hearing me, Teacher, and Gracia Hughes." She paused again. "Oh, and Ling, Lan Fan, Darius, Heinkel, some people from Briggs." Considering the list carefully, she muttered, "Damn, I told a lot of people."
"Scar, too," Al tendered and she narrowed her eyes at him.
"That's your fault. Him and the soldiers from Briggs and those two chimera you picked up." He at least had the decency to give her a sheepish look.
"Wait, the guy that tried to kill you?" demanded Sam sharply.
"He reformed," grunted Evelyn. "Actually, we gave him a better target and came to a truce." The darkening look on her mother's face heralded 'bad things' and she took Sam's hand in hers. "Don't," she cautioned. "Last thing you need to do is go running off into the desert. For one, you look Amestrian and people don't care overmuch for Amestrians out there."
Sam glowered at her before turning that dark gaze on Alphonse. "You didn't tell us this." The blonde young man looked somewhat contrite at that.
"I didn't think it was as major of a point as sketching out some of the other things that had happened," he returned. "You wanted to know more about how Sister was doing than any of that. And more about this world."
"He has you there, hon," grumbled Brandon. "We really didn't care so long as we were going to be back with her. We should have known they'd not tell everything."
"Welcome to the club," snorted Winry. "They've been avoiding telling us things for years." Evelyn just looked towards the ceiling for a bit, mentally listing off the various reasons why she should not tweak Winry's nose or irritate her just for that comment despite how well-deserved it was.
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Eventually, time progressed towards dinner and Pinako went about shuffling everyone off despite Sam and Amelia offering to help. Evelyn was ordered by the old woman to finish the porch rails. Alphonse had then asked why she'd not been using alchemy to fix it, inspiring her to growl angrily at him for the goad, before he repaired it himself.
The fact that she liked working with her hands seemed to escape her brother. Or perhaps he did know and he liked to aggravate her on that.
Chores done, she'd taken a shower to clean up and spent a bit of time under barely lukewarm water thinking over the fact that her family was here. That her mother and father were here. That Aunt Amelia was here.
That Peter was here.
Having not seen Peter in so long made her ache especially in light of the fact that she'd come so close to staying in Aerugo with Roberto. Had Roberto not rejected her, she might have wound up married and happy until word came about her family's appearance in this world. Perhaps it had been good for Roberto to reject her.
Realizing that she was freezing, Evelyn hastily ensured soap had been washed off and she turned off the tap to scramble out and towel dry. Tugging clean underclothes on, Evelyn caught sight of her reflection in the mirror and frowned at the scars. What if Peter didn't like them any more than Roberto had? He didn't seem the type and she doubted Maes Hughes had been against scars considering he and Mustang had both been through war, but she didn't know. And she was afraid he was.
Pulling on khaki canvas pants and one of Edward's old tee shirts that had been left unaltered, Evelyn sighed. She wasn't used to being like this. She was supposed to be courageous, gung ho, and inspiring. Not a weepy little girl with self-confidence issues. She was one of the biggest bad-asses around, but she was weak. So very weak. How anyone thought of her as 'strong' was beyond her. Willful, sure. Prideful, of course. But strong? Not as she clung to people like she did while being afraid she'd be left behind.
Edward's old black shirt looked a little too large on her, honestly. He'd been broader in the shoulders even if he'd been a bit shorter. Evelyn had theorized once that he could have even turned into a fairly tall man had he'd not committed human transmutation, had automail bolted to him, and then had died some years later. Despite being a little larger in the shoulders, it was a good fit and she exited the bathroom only to find Peter lurking in the hall nearby.
"Well, this isn't creepy at all," she drawled, taken off-guard as she'd not had her chi senses open. He gave her a lopsided smile.
"Not the sort of person you want to meet in a dark alley, huh?" Considering his even more towering stature as he'd grown since she'd last seen him and still leanly muscular body, Evelyn had to admit he was a fairly intimidating figure if one didn't know his tendency towards being an absolute lazy ass dog that could rival Mouse. She wondered how the Great Dane was doing and if he hated leaving the beast behind.
"No. Not if I was a damsel in distress," she joked quietly. His grin grew a bit.
"You're not a damsel in distress," Peter snorted. "A distressing damsel, maybe, but not one in distress." She wished his words were true. He moved closer to her and it was relieving to feel him tuck her up against him, put his chin on her head, and hug her close. "I've missed you so much," he breathed, arms wrapped about her shoulders and secure. "It's been seven hundred and seventy two days." She blinked, pushed back from him a bit, and looked up. He didn't release her from his grip though he did loosen it.
"Huh?"
"It's been seven hundred and seventy two days since I last saw you. I counted, you know." Evelyn felt her jaw slacken a bit at the admission. Rough calculation told her…
"Just over two years?"
"Yeah."
"Hughes… How old are you?" He gave her a slight grimace.
"It turned out Alphonse didn't get the exact times for the equations just right. I know it's been longer here. But, I'm almost eighteen." He paused. "Didn't graduate, though. Nearly did."
"I'm nineteen," she told him, causing him to pause slightly. Blue eyes peered at her carefully as his grip loosened further to the point she had hands on her shoulders and not much else.
"Something else happened to you," he murmured. "And not a war or one-two extra years." Averting her gaze, Evelyn felt shame flood her. "Ed? What happened?" After a moment of unresponsiveness, he seemed to understand she wouldn't respond right then. "Where's your room?"
"There," she said, gesturing to the door just down the hall. Immediately, Peter moved along and took her with him. He paused when he saw the interior of her room, packed with books and papers and cramped between bed and desk she'd figured into the space.
"Wow. This is so you," he mused as Evelyn shut the door behind them, looking at the various volumes. "All you're missing is the diagrams everywhere sketched on the walls and then it'd be your old room…" Glancing out the window, he added, "Only with a different view and smaller."
"It is pretty nice, isn't it?" Evelyn offered before finding herself moving to him and hugging him tightly. "Oh, how I've missed you!" Again, Peter's arms went tight about her as well, keeping them close as he pressed lips against damp hair. The feel of that kiss made her hurt all over again and she wasn't surprised when he murmured again how much he missed her before getting down to business.
"What happened?" Evelyn weighed him carefully with her eyes as they stepped over to sit on the double bed she had jammed against one wall, her overflowing desk right beside it. She considered her response and then paused before offering up her words.
"I… I didn't know you were coming here," she said slowly. "So, I tried to move on." Peter watched as she struggled with trying to put it in the best way possible. "It didn't work out in the long run, obviously, but… I'd tried, Hughes. He was nice and all and…" Looking at her hands, she was unsurprised when Peter grasped one, running a thumb along skin. Tears burned in her eyes. "He couldn't handle them, y'know? The scars. And now that you're here, I can't help but wonder if you'll hate them, too."
"Where?" The word was soft and his eyes intent and she wrapped her free hand over her right side.
"They're all over, really, but this was one of the bad ones." Just like Ricardo, Peter slid a hand under the hem of her shirt. Her belly jumped at the contact and she watched as he skimmed fingers over knotted flesh. The teen slipped off the bed, moving around in front of her because it was that awkward of a reach and Evelyn tensed as he lifted the hem of her shirt up to show the torn up side. His eyes skittered over other smaller scars, fingering ones that were lightly raised and others that were merely discolorations and some that were even sunken. But his eyes didn't leave the large one for long.
"What happened?" His words were soft, sad. They were so different from Ricardo's reaction but Evelyn was afraid he was going to still lash out and push her away.
"Someone tried to take me out," she said softly. "I'd gotten in his way and he brought a building down to stop me." The fingers were again probing the skin. "I had landed mostly fine when he destroyed the floor we'd been standing on. Bruised, beaten up, but fine. But then this beam came down and I'm not sure how exactly it happened but it skewered me." The distortion of flesh dulled his touches some but she could slightly feel the roughened pad of his thumb edging along it. Silence stretched before she added, "I nearly died." Blue eyes lifted and the hem was gently lowered. She did not see that closed off look. She didn't see him flinch away or call her deformed or whatever. Despite the fact that she'd known him for fifteen years and perhaps knew this form of him better than he likely knew himself, she did not want to give into hope just yet. She really didn't want to be burned yet again.
Especially with him so newly back in her life again.
"You're afraid of me."
And, apparently like how well she knew him, Peter knew her. His eyes, so quick and assessing like in his last life, were picking her apart. Digging into her and could see all her little jagged edges and locked doors. Fingers that had caressed her side reached to her face and she remained silent as he just took her apart and figured her out.
"Oh, Ed," he sighed, palming her cheek and shifting to sit next to her again, deliberately drawing her head to his shoulder so he might encircle her shoulders with an arm. "You are such an idiot. You think a few scars would scare me off?"
"Once burned, twice shy," she groused in truthful admission.
"I get that, but remember I'm not some jackass that is reliant on looks. Or maybe I am but even if you refuse to wear a bikini, you're still really beautiful." The verbal assurance helped soothe some of her fears. And then a knock came on the door.
"Evelyn?" Shifting to sit up, the young woman registered it as Brandon's voice.
"Come in," she called. The door opened to reveal not only her father but her mother and Amy, too. "Hi."
"Oh, good, you're not doing anything elicit," huffed Amy though there was a slight tinge of disappointment there. The teenagers weren't sure if it was real or not and wisely chose not to comment, especially as Brandon and Samantha didn't either. There was another contemplation of the room and before Peter realized what was happening he was forcibly displaced by Evelyn's parents. There'd been no cruelty, just a simple thumb jerk from the father that made him scramble.
They talked for a while, Evelyn going on about some of the adventures she'd had while the others described what had happened back in that other world. Sam toyed with the bracelet about her wrist still and Brandon smirked a bit as he sat on her other side. It was comforting to be braced by them after so long.
And then came her curiosity. "So, what exactly happened when Alphonse came along?"
"It was so amazing," Sam said, eyes full of fond memory. "We just ran into him while he was wandering about the house for whatever reason and just… I just knew it to be him. I could see you and not see you at the same time."
"And then he offered us the chance to go with him," Brandon mused. "Your mom said 'yes' so fast, I got whiplash. Not that I'd've said 'no', but…" He nudged Sam's shoulder behind Evelyn's back and she grinned at him unrepentantly over Evelyn's head.
"And how are you taking all of this, Amy?" asked Evelyn, looking at the heavyset woman sitting on her desk chair, Peter piled on the floor.
"In shock still, actually. To get a call from those two idiots to find out they're running off after you after finding out from Peter that you two had been friends since before you were born…"
"Technically, yes and no. The Brigadier General and I were friendly but not, perhaps, friends until this life when we were Peter and Evelyn." Her gaze darted to the now-younger teen. "Though he'd been a Lieutenant Colonel then. There is an old practice of elevating the dead two ranks." She tilted her head in thought. "Did you meet Gracia while in Central?"
"Gracia?" asked Peter as her eyes were still on him. "Who's Gracia?" That explained everything and Evelyn took a moment to explain that Maes Hughes had been married to the woman and had a child with her. Peter's eyes grew somewhat rounded behind his glasses and Amy looked startled. The two that had known more about Peter and Evelyn's previous lives remained silent as she reiterated the words. And then she told Peter how, when he had reverted temporarily to his past life, had asked her to pass on various messages and that one of them had been for Gracia to move on.
"Did she?" wondered her oldest friend save for Winry and Alphonse. She nodded.
"Met a nice man from what she told me. A widower with children of his own. She seemed happy." Choosing to not divulge that Gracia had sussed out Evelyn's relationship with her husband's reincarnation, the golden blonde moved on. "And I heard you guys met Mustang."
"Whoo, he was a cutie," huffed Amy, waving her hand at her face in an exaggerated manner. "Not much for the Asian type but even I have to say that one." Evelyn barked a laugh.
"Oh, man. Womanizer of the East claims another, huh?"
"Oh ho, popular with the ladies, hm?"
"Not nearly as bad as he puffed himself up to be though he flirted with anything in a skirt," she admitted. "Mustang's a lot of things. Someone who has no morals has not been one of them." She paused and frowned. "You tell him anything of what I think of him and so help me I'll show you what a right terror I can be with all my alchemy skills." Saying this, she looked at everyone rather pointedly.
"Alright, alright…" Amelia sighed as Peter frowned pensively. "Though he seemed more into younger faces anyway."
"Unsurprising, actually."
"He wanted to speak to me in private," Peter said. "I wasn't comfortable with it, though." Evelyn thought about that and sighed.
"Even more unsurprising. Al thinks you were remembering him somewhat." She considered the now-younger teen's face carefully, taking in his withdrawn nature. "It's not my business to tell, really, but to put it simply… Maes Hughes was Roy Mustang's best friend. And when Hughes… Not Peter-Hughes but actual Hughes-Hughes… died…" She sighed. "He had a hard time with it. It sent him on a vengeance streak he nearly lost himself to. To find out that… that Envy, someone who could change his shape however he wished, had transformed into Hughes's wife and killed him… To find that out…" Her words faltered and she recalled the dark look in his gaze. "I… We stopped him. It took Riza pointing a gun at his head, Scar criticizing him, and me shouting at him to make him stop. It was awful. His eyes looked like something I'd never seen in him. I'm sure his venture into that ugly place still haunts him."
"What happened to this 'Envy'?" Amelia asked quietly.
"He committed suicide. He was so jealous of humans, he couldn't stand being pitied by them. I'd tried to stop him from committing suicide, but he did it anyway." Looking up from her feet, she continued. "How much did Al tell you? About the origin of the people who wished this country dead?"
"He said they were homunculi. Artificial humans," muttered Peter. "That they all had powers and were all extremely dangerous. That it had been Envy to kill you."
"They were the children of a being known as Homunculus… or 'Father' as the homunculi called him. Homunculus," she added, "was created from the blood of a slave from Xerxes. When Homunculus became aware, he knew who his progenitor was and spoke to the slave. The slave was eventually named Van Hohenheim." Sam gasped in surprise.
"Your… Edward's father." Evelyn nodded, her golden eyes ochre in her dark remembrances. She could see Hohenheim's pained face as he spoke his tale.
"Yeah," she murmured. Sam's hand wrapped about hers and gripped it.
.
.
.
Author's Note: And this is what Le Confidant had inspired in me. This is why the story kept growing exponentially. This is one thing that I've been looking forward to writing. And I hope I evoke some very emotional responses from my readers.
Originally, this didn't happen. Originally, I'd planned on Evelyn winding up with Roy. Thing is, this seems better because this way Roy can be with Riza and, while I like Genderbent EdxRoy pairings, I like RoyxRiza just as much. Of course, Roy and Riza cannot be together until one of them retires or something, but… hey. We can always dream of sexy closet time, yeah? Not that I think Riza would agree to something like that.
But, now, Evelyn and Peter, who had wound up being so awesome back thirty chapters ago, get to be together. And, of course, there will be some stuff that will go along with this. Unresolved issues. Gracia. Roy. So on and so forth. And I hit so many roadblocks writing this. I had a vision, had even written it out, and it didn't want to flow that way. So, I rewrote it so it would fit, copied certain pieces from the original version I'd conjured, and went on.
And there was a poignant revelation I had while writing this. "Regardless of what you might think, noble self-sacrifice is hard to watch." Unfortunately, this statement defines Edward very well.
Please review. I appreciate it.
