"won't you go to someone else's dreams? won't you go to someone else's head? haven't you taken enough from me? won't you torture someone else's sleep?"
twenty one pilots|-/
•••
Iris doesn't go to sleep until she sees Edward resting on the cot next to her. She sits in a chair at the side of his bed, combing her still-wet fingers through her short black hair. The hometown doctor had given her access to shower, but she thought it was more because they didn't want her to get blood on the floor. Ed had already had them mop the floor of his mess, and they'd have to throw out the sheets he was on the next morning when he woke up.
'At least,' she thought, feeling the slickness on her fingers, 'it's just water, not blood.'
She couldn't say the same for her friend. He looked like hell. The doctors had taken off his red coat, jacket and shirt to look at the wound easier, but said that since it was closed that they could help him more in the morning. They soaked up most of the leftover blood with a couple of towels and let the chimeras carry him to the spare mattress. He was already asleep, but he seemed more relaxed in an actual bed.
"I should probably sleep," she reasoned quietly to herself, checking her watch. "It's already past midnight."
The alchemist leaned back in the less than comfortable chair and closed her eyes, but every so often, she would open them again to look at the blond. Even in such a state of disarray, she admired him. She had undone his braid when they had put him to bed, so it framed his sleeping face.
He had gotten older in the face, she'd noticed. His features leaned towards manly rather than boyish, what, with his stronger jaw and longer face. He seemed content in his sleep, not riddled with pain or trouble. He was completely at ease. But even his beautifully peaceful visage was not enough to keep the nightmares away when sleep finally took her.
•••
Voices swarmed her head. They talked to her all at once, and she could only decipher so many. Almost transparent figures surrounded her, as if all their shadows were white instead of black. One appeared in front of her face, then transformed. It was a sweet mother of two boys, brown hair in a ponytail on her shoulder.
"Nice to meet you."
It transformed again. A face of a friend, yet much younger. Tin didn't distort his boyish voice as he said, "Nice to meet you, but who are you?"
She looked at her hands, which were callous and rough. When she raised her head up, the figure transformed once more. An ally, one who risked it all, and almost lost it all, too. A mask covered her face. She informed her, "You're not exactly who you think you are."
Iris recalled the conversation with her foreign friend. She had to find herself. She knew that much.
The transformations kept coming, this time into someone sinister. A sister.
"You know who you are," she said, voice laced with sweetness. But her menacing smile contradicted her tone as she growled, "You're a monster, just like me."
This time, the voice morphed as the person changed. An innocent little girl. She put her hand over her furry companion, and they suddenly fused together.
"She's right. You are a monster. And that's all you'll ever be."
•••
Her horrid dream made her jump in her seat. Iris fell back into the chair, making one leg of the wood snap. She landed on her behind and she felt tears running down her face. Her entire body trembled as she quickly reassembled the chair with alchemy.
The first thought that came to her was Ed on the bed. She closed her eyes.
'He's fine,' she reasoned with herself. 'I can feel his aura. He's fine.'
The face of her clock read five in the morning. She realized she had goosebumps running down her arms. She'd figured their clothes would have been dried by now, so she quietly snuck out and tiptoed into the laundry room. These doctors had a new-fangled washing and drying machine that should have their clothes clean by now.
She opened the door to the machine and saw Edward's red coat and her forest green one. She reached out, but her hand hovered over the two fabrics.
'Fuck it,' she thought, then grabbed the red garment. She ran swiftly back into the guest room. Sitting back in the chair, she covered herself with the coat, feeling much warmer. She didn't know how she would explain this in the morning, but her tiredness was too strong, and she fell back into a dreamless sleep.
•••
Before he could even open his eyes, the Fullmetal Alchemist felt pain coursing throughout his entire being. For the split moment he saw Iris wrapped in his coat, the pain dulled. But just for a moment. Then he groaned in agony, his fingers trembling as he tore the blankets off of his body.
"Shit," he breathed, looking down at his abdomen, which was covered in dried blood. His memory was vague. He recalls Iris putting back the pieces of his stomach with alchemy, and almost dying. It was almost too vivid. He was starting to wonder if this was a dream. It would make sense. He knew this girl, and she would be caught dead before seen tucked with his clothes. Reality was only apparent to him when he watched as she moved around, then stirred awake. She saw what she was clutching, panicked, then threw it on the ground.
His thoughts surprised him. 'Not a dream,' his subconscious noted. 'Too damn good to be true.' He wondered where he got those ideas from.
The girl stretched and finally saw Ed there, his body tense and face twisted in pain. He had no strength for much else, as his eyes were shut and he couldn't seem to form words. She had the idea that he was still asleep.
At the sight of the blankets not covering him, she draped his coat over him and muttered, "Edward Elric, you are driving me crazy." Just like last night, she watched him for a moment of admiration. He could feel her eyes on him, and he slowly relaxed.
Iris brushes his hair out of his face. Two instincts kick into his brain; he wants to push her hand away, but also lean into it. He resists both emotions, and just lets it happen. It's quite comforting - so much so that he instantly misses it when she pulls away.
"I have to go," she tells him suddenly, her voice just above a whisper. "I have to let everyone know we're okay. And..." Her voice broke as she remembered her nightmare from hours ago. "I need to find answers. About myself, and just who the hell I am."
The alchemist sighed, clearly upset. "Why do I have a feeling we won't be seeing each other for awhile?"
She tried for a smile, even though he couldn't see her. "I trust that you can take care of yourself. And don't die. I need you alive." She cleared her throat. "Um, we need you alive. Y'know, the team and stuff."
She smoothed over his coat and sighed. "I'll see you soon, Ed."
Once he heard the door shut behind her, the pain amplified once more. He had a strong feeling that it had nothing to do with his injury.
The chimeras were already awake by the time Iris had gotten herself ready. Her green coat had no bloodstains anymore. She explained to them why she had to leave.
"I really have to go find Alphonse. He'll want to know that we're okay. The others, too. Just, please take care of Ed. We'll be out of your hair soon."
The doctors advised for her to stay, but she merely asked for some cloth to make a tourniquet and arm sling for her stab wound and some packed ice for her black eye. The rest she could handle by herself, surely. Ed was the one they needed to pay attention to, she told them. She just had to hold onto the hope that they would.
By noon, she was alone, walking through the snow. She'd figured the group would be nearby, considering it had only been a day since they were separated. She ventures wherever her power takes her, deciding that she could detect them through their presences. Not many people will be out in the cold, not to mention a big group like themselves.
The alchemist comes across a tiny village called Azbeck. The population consisted of mostly Ishvalans, who were very friendly and inviting. They directed her towards the big group who had come in last night, and sure enough, the team was squatting in an abandoned house just barely in the confines of the town.
While Alphonse and Winry were happy to see her safe, their concern spiked at her injuries and lack of their loved one.
Winry hugged her, and Iris hugged back, despite the pain it caused her shoulder. "You're okay! But, where's Ed? Please tell me nothing's wrong with him!"
See-All rubbed her wound. "He's not great. But, he will be fine. I had to leave him with the doctors just outside of Baschool. He needs time to recover, and I had to make sure to find you and fill you in. Best case scenario is we go back for him soon."
"He couldn't come with you?" Al asked, panic rising in his voice.
Iris felt uncomfortable having everyone hear how bad the situation truly was. Scar, Yoki, Mei, and Marcoh were all in the conversation with them now, and she didn't want Ed's privacy invaded. She figured she would at least tell Alphonse in private what exactly happened That is, if he wanted to know.
"He's a bit... bedridden, to say the least. I... I had to keep him alive. We were stuck in the mines and..." Iris was determined not to cry. It was a traumatic experience for the two of them, but the most important part was that they were both alive. "I promised he was going to be fine, and he will be. We just have to be patient, okay?"
"Oh, poor Edward!" Mei sympathizes, frowning at the information.
"Don't grieve, he's not dead," Iris demanded. Then she pulled the Xingese girl to the side. "Can we finally talk?" Mei nodded, and they went to a secluded corner of the house, sitting across from each other.
"What is it that's been bothering you?" Mei queried.
"I've been... plagued with something. For my whole life. I can sense people, their past, and their emotions concerning the past. A friend gave me a tip to learn more about Xingese history, and I can't think of anywhere else to start but someone who's a native of that country."
"I see. And you were born in Amestris?"
"Yes, in the Southeast. A town called Augustine. I've never even been to Xing! Only... the east of the desert. Xerxes. But that wouldn't make any sense, still! I've had these powers my whole life... Won't you help me, Mei?"
She watched as the alchemist worked through what she knew. Iris was still missing pieces, and she would help with that. Her description of what she'd been experiencing sounded very familiar to one of the passed down folk tales from Xing. She never imagined it could happen to someone in her lifetime. But now, this seemingly Amestrian alchemist was once a participant of a prophecy that ended in death.
A concerned look washed over the girl's face as she asked, "Have you ever heard the tale of the conjoined twins?"
"No. It doesn't sound too good."
Mei ignored her and began to tell the old history of Xing.
"There were once laws regarding parenthood in Xing - people feared overpopulation despite being a large country. There was only to be one child per pair of mother and father. The entire country was at a crossroads when one mother gave birth to two children at a time - twin sisters. But they were not just any twins; they were conjoined by the neck. Two brains, one body. The government deemed it constitutional and allowed them to be a family. As the two children grew, some strange happenings occurred to them. One could experience the past, while the other could predict the future. They lived most of their lives with this secret, only confiding in each other.
"The father could see their daily struggle, and decided to study alkahestry, a healing practice. At the cusp of their childhood, he discovered a way to separate them, to give them their own bodies. And so he did. Two brains, two bodies. But the Xingese government saw this as treason - the law stated there was only to be one child per family.
"Their decision was to execute one of the twins. The first of the twins foresaw the future, and knew the outcome of their situation. She sacrificed herself to them. She was killed, and while the other was in turmoil, she realized that with her sister's passing, she gained her power to see the future. She now saw the past, was in the present, and could predict the future.
"She presented this information to her government with proof, but it was seen as witchcraft instead. Xing was not alkahestry controlled, but it was where alkahestry was born, so those practicing it were outraged... furious by the government's decision to kill both supernatural sisters. It was an uprising between science and government. Alkahestry won - that's why Xing is a country of science now, just like Amestris. These two sisters were ultimately the reason why alkahestry became so advanced in Xing. And now, Amestrians like you and other countries want to learn this art as well.
"It was rumored that they were also the ones who could first use qi, and taught it to other alkahestrists before their passing."
"So it's really qi I've been sensing? Are you telling me I'm part Xingese? But qi is something learned, not given at birth!" Iris's frustration reaches an all time high. Her stab wound throbs and she grabs it in pain.
"Listen, I don't know anything about your origin except for the story. There's been no account of a folktale actually being true, especially in the modern world we live in now."
Iris groaned.
"But," Mei countered, "I can help you control your qi. I'm sure your power has made you sense overwhelmingly strong amounts. With the right practice, it should be easy to manipulate."
"Not to mention I never learned how to control it in the first place," Iris muttered. She was thankful to Mei for providing some answers, but her origin was still not fully known, and it drove her mad.
"Don't lose hope, Iris. I'm sure you'll figure out everything you want to know."
"And maybe things I don't want to know."
"Isn't it better to have knowledge than be ignorant?"
The alchemist couldn't argue, and instead put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Thank you. This is my first step to finding out who I am. I really owe you one."
"Well," she drew out. Hearts appeared in her eyes. "Tell me how to make Alphonse fall in love with me!"
"Mei!"
