Chapter 17: Stranger from Across the Desert
Edward rubbed his already sore jaw, that Xingese goon leaving a sizable bruise. "What are these guys, acrobats?!" he moaned, pushing himself up from the dirt.
"Must be a special fighting style, could be tough to beat." Alphonse wiggled himself onto his stomach like an overturned turtle, a dent in his helmet from the other fighter's kick.
The brothers got to their feet, "Even so, they're still not as strong…"
"…As Teacher!"
They fell into ready fighting stances as the Xingese fighters charged towards them. They simultaneously clapped their hands together, and the real fight began.
Ling laughed and Beryl just stared at him; there was no way any of this was amusing, ridiculous maybe…
"Off they go…" he mused before turning to a man nearby, "Hey pops lets add some dessert to this tab!"
He ordered another mountain of food, and she couldn't help but marvel at how much the weirdo could eat and coming from her that was saying something. The second feast between them sparkled more than any gold or jewels, and her mouth watered against her wishes.
He smiled, "You should eat if you're hungry."
"You know buttering me up with food won't get you far, just ask the Elric dorks." She reached for a bowl of fruit and popped a grape in her mouth, never looking away from Ling's dark eyes as they watched her.
The Xingese stranger chuckled lightly, scratching his fingers under Pepper's chin. "You don't seem to be as trusting as your feline friend here," he observed. "You know Xing respects cats quite a great deal, it's believed that they protect departed souls from demons as they make their way to the afterlife. Even strays are treated like kings."
She rolled her eyes, "Sorry if I don't trust people who sick their freaky bodyguards on my friends."
"So you are friends then!"
Crap he got me there, she thought, biting her tongue. "Yeah, I guess we are."
He smiled, "You know with my friends we'd play a game where I'd ask them questions and when they'd answer I would have to guess if they were lying or not."
"So?"
"So, I never lost, so when you answer my questions I'll know if you're lying."
Annoyed, Beryl blew her bangs from her forehead. "Let me ask you something."
"Hm?" he rested his chin on top of Pepper's head, trying to be cute. What a jerk.
"Why do you want immortality so bad anyway?" he hummed, seeming to be thinking about her question with sincere consideration. For someone who claimed to be a normal guy who just happened to have bodyguards and an itch for immortality, he was cunning and self-assured. He knew what he wanted and judging by how he was handling Ed and Al he was willing to use violence to get it. He hadn't attacked Beryl yet, though with the sword on his belt he could if he wanted to, so why all the fluff? Why take the interrogation route?
It was probably because she clearly wasn't as tactful as the Elric brothers. She wasn't an alchemist so she knew little about the stone, but what she did know he could tell was important; he'd only called it by name, and she looked like she was going to be sick.
That was it wasn't it? To Ling Beryl was the weakest member of the trio, so he was attacking her himself. He got Edward and Alphonse away from her, so he could pick her brain as much as he pleased.
For such a happy-go-lucky guy, he was a real snake.
"Tell me why you and your friends are keeping it from me, and I'll tell you." He admitted, rubbing the pads of his fingers together.
"Even I know there are things you just don't mess with."
Unlike before, when Ed and Al were beside her, she looked him dead in the eye. Ling's dark orbs flicked to her scar for barely a moment before he looked back at her. Pepper jumped out of his lap then, bounding off to chase after a beetle or something, it didn't really matter. The Xingese stranger's attention was now solely on her.
He linked his hands together. "Make no mistake, I have no intentions of using the philosopher's stone for evil purposes. I don't even want it for myself." He explained, prompting Beryl to cock her head curiously.
"Who then."
He told her. "The Emperor of my country has recently fallen ill, and the philosopher's stone would provide him with immortality to continue his reign, I would be greatly rewarded as well for being the one to bring it to him."
Ling scanned her then, from her muddy boots to the rough edges of her dusty brown hair.
"And what about you?" he asked, "Your reluctance to tell me anything combined with your obvious discomfort tell me you already know something about the stone. Something important if I had to guess."
Her spike of courage faded away and she stared down at the table; Ling really read her like a book. She couldn't decide if he was good at reading people or if she just had a terrible tell. Probably both.
A sigh fell from her lips, and for a moment Ling thought she looked much older than fourteen.
"You're not going to quit." It wasn't a question, but he shrugged anyway.
"Call me greedy."
A smirk of her own twitched on her face. "Greed can get you into trouble," It was the first time that day he'd seen her smile.
"Oh I'm well aware."
They stared at each other some more before Beryl spoke again; barely above a whisper like she was afraid of anyone else in the restaurant hearing them.
"You'll be dead before you ever get close, the military will make sure of that. I had friends who underestimated them and paid for it."
Perhaps she didn't realize she was doing so, but Ling watched her as she scratched at the fresh scar on her face, a look in her eyes that didn't belong on a girl so young. He himself was also young, but their situations were vastly different.
The smile on Ling's face wasn't very reassuring. "The military, how interesting… what would their intentions with the stone be I wonder…"
An explosion swept both sides of the street, the table and chairs the duo sat in rose off the ground before slamming back down. Beryl jumped and let out a squeak she wasn't particularly proud of, but Ling seemed completely oblivious to it, his hand placed thoughtfully beneath his chin.
Geez you two, take it down a notch! She thought, not willing to admit that she was worried about them.
She hadn't realized she'd looked away from Ling until he clapped his hands together and pulled her gaze back to him.
"Well, thank you! You've given me everything I need to know!" he grasped her hands between his, his callouses rough against her own. "Shall we check on your friends then?"
He rose from the table and made off down the road, and Beryl, feeling like she'd missed something, followed him.
Oh god… Winry's gonna kill me…
It was one thing to trash his automail arm in a fight, but for his opponent to start throwing around grenades and blow the whole damn thing clean off was another can of worms entirely. It occurred to Edward that a sane person would be worried about their own health when faced with a grenade, but her he was thinking about what Winry would do to him when she saw the damage.
He felt sick just thinking about it.
On the bright side, he did win against the guy in the mask… who turned out to be a girl. She was dangling in his trap like a rascally rabbit with no escape any time soon. That at least made his chest swell with pride.
"Brother!"
He turned his head to see his armored little brother toting his own masked assailant, along with that pickpocket Paninya skipping by his side.
He smiled, "Oh, hey Al!"
"Alright! Good work guys!"
Ed's mood immediately soured when that no-good, ponytail-wearing, freaky-eyed idiot Ling popped his head over the wreckage his dogs caused, along with a very confused looking Beryl under his arm. Ed ground his teeth into a snarl, "Why you… what're you so chipper about?!"
Ling seemed unaffected by the anger thrown his way, either that or he was just too dumb to notice it… Edward really couldn't tell otherwise. "You both have impressive skills… I know! Come work for me and together we can take over this country! What do you say?"
"I've had enough of your idiotic garbage! Just go back to Xing!" Ed barked while Beryl inched slowly away from Ling towards Al.
She'd only had one conversation with the guy, yet Beryl already felt like she knew exactly what kind of person he was. No matter what happened to him, no matter what anyone said or threatened, he would never stop looking for what he wanted. And once he found it he'd do anything to obtain it.
The further she moved away from him the more she felt like he was still watching her, despite his eyes being focused on Edward. Even still, the moment she looked away from him, his dark eyes glanced towards her. He was analyzing her, as if trying to figure her out. Trying to figure them all out. If the philosopher's stone was lethally guarded by the military and even seasoned alchemists avoided it, then it must've been especially powerful…
Beryl hadn't realized she was still moving away from Ling until the cold metal of Alphonse's arm brushed against her shoulder. It sent goosepimples across her skin and when she looked up at him he met her eyes. His eyes sent an odd weight into her gut, so she looked away, her cheeks warm with embarrassment from being so wary of the eastern stranger.
A crowd had gathered in outrage from the damage caused by Ed and Al's fight with Ling's buddies, and while Edward tried to redirect their blame, Ling's carefree persona of an airheaded Xingese Tourist resurfaced as he stuttered in gibberish before fleeing. His masked buddies weren't far behind, there one moment then gone the next, leaving the trio to clean up the mess.
"Dammit… how am I gonna fix all this with only one arm?" Ed asked, holding up his severed appendage and staring at it as if it would tell him a solution.
Doubtful.
Ed had passed out at some point and Al had to tote him back to Garfiel's on his back. For someone always yelling about how she was a lazy bum he sure knew how to run out of fuel at the opportune moment…
Beryl and Al sent most of the walk back in uncomfortable silence, until the armored boy spoke up.
"So… what did you and Ling talk about?"
"Afraid I spilled the beans, huh?"
He waved his free hand, the other supporting his brother. "No, nothing like that… I mean, just… I hope he wasn't rude?" it sounded more like a question than a proper explanation.
Beryl scoffed, her scar itching again. "I told him the truth; that if he kept looking for the stone, he'd get himself killed." Alphonse only nodded, knowing she hated talking about it. "He also asked me a lot about you dorks, our relationship," she put in quotes.
"Relationship?" he asked nervously.
A smirk played on her lips. "Oh yeah, our deep and passionate love affair of course! Whatever else could I mean Alphonse?" she swept a hand over her forehead dramatically, like a maiden swooning for her knight in shining armor.
Al actually laughed, "Yes! I hope our Xingese companion was not as taken with you as I am!" he proclaimed, just as flamboyant and exaggerated as she had.
Beryl giggled loudly and playfully shoved his arm. It felt good to tease him again, and for the first time it occurred to her that she was getting used to having the dorks around… even enjoying their company. Was that weird? It felt weird to admit, even her stomach felt weird… whatever, better to leave that alone.
Garfiel's shop was a gift from the heavens, even better when Ed started waking up and insisted he could walk on his own.
"We're back!" the trio chimed.
They weren't met with Garfiel's smiling face or even Winry's cheerful greeting, a familiar but not-so-wanted face was their warm welcome.
"Hello! We meet again!" Ling Yao sat comfortably at Garfiel's table, calming sipping tea and looking fit as a fiddle.
While Al and Beryl looked confused and even a little alarmed, Edward didn't hesitate to whack the Xingese boy over the head with his severed arm. "What's your sorry ass doing here?!"
Ling held up his hands asking for mercy, "Now now, let's just relax, we're all friends here…"
"That's how you treat your friends? By sicing your dogs on them. Those two didn't go easy!" he bared his teeth and growled like a pissed off raccoon, but Ling just looked calm, albeit a little more wary of Edward, however.
He shrugged, "Sorry about that, I promise I'll talk to them about it!" he reassured, tucking his hands into the sleeves of his yellow jacket. "The girl is Lan Fan and the old man is Fu, they've served me my whole life as their ancestors did for mine."
Beryl blew a raspberry past her teeth, "What kinda beggar on the street can afford his own bodyguards?" she asked, knowing if she had the cash to blow on muscle like those two she wouldn't have shaken down the Elrics in the first place.
"Well, I am the emperor's son after all!"
A second passed, and Beryl blinked once or twice before his words actually attached themselves to her brain.
"Emperor's…"
"Son?" Ed and Al finished.
"That makes you…" dots connected. "A Prince?!"
Three reactions happened all at once, Ed and Al dissolved into uncontrollable laughter on the floor, while Beryl was stuck between wonder and a little bit of anger. She punched him in the arm and yelled, "You didn't mention that earlier!"
He shrugged again, "I didn't think it was important," the two of them looked at the still laughing brothers, "Although this reaction wasn't what I expected…"
Edward tried to stifle his chuckles, but it was proving difficult. "Sorry, it's just that the guy we picked up off the street is the son of an emperor! What's next? Beryl are you the granddaughter of a Drachmann Tzar?!" she kicked him for that, then a knife planted itself next to his head, although Beryl wasn't the one who threw it.
The formerly masked girl, Lan Fan, Ling had said, glared at them all from the windowsill like a Halloween cat. She was practically oozing contempt for the trio. "Great to see you…" Ed grumbled sarcastically.
Ling chuckled lightly, as if throwing knives was normal behavior for her. Beryl inched away from the window. "Actually, it's not that big of a deal… the emperor has lots of sons! Xing is made of 50 clans, and each clan leader gives a daughter to the emperor to marry and have children with, our current emperor has 24 sons and 19 daughters." He explained, his tea left untouched on the table.
Suddenly it clicked, and that's not something Beryl gets to say often. "You said the emperor is sick and you wanted the stone to gain a reward, if you're a prince then your reward must be becoming emperor instead of any of your siblings!" when he nodded she felt like she was on top of the world.
Alright! She figured it out!
"Correct!" he praised before turning to Edward again, "Miss Desiree has offered me all she can, but I know you're still holding out on me, so spill!"
"No way!" he barked. The philosopher's stone couldn't be used for political gain, it shouldn't be used at all.
Ling threw himself over the alchemist, "Then I'll just stay with you until you tell me!" Ed hit him over the head with his arm again, this time harder.
"Get off of me, or I swear I'll…"
"I'm back!"
Edward wasn't afraid of much, but that voice sent chills down his spine.
"There was a big fight in town, so I had to take the long way home…" Winry was all smiles and cheer when she walked in the door, then she looked at Edward and his severed, tattered, destroyed automail.
Everyone froze.
"What happened to your arm?!"
"AHHHH!"
"So where are you going to break your automail this time?" Winry sneered, grouchily reattaching wires to panels inside Ed's arm.
He blew his golden bangs from his eyes, "Why do you assume I'll break it?" he sighed.
"We were going to do some more research in Central," Al supplied, his hands folded neatly in his lap while Pepper slept curled up on his helmet.
Winry lit up like a Christmas tree, "Central? Oh take me with you! I'd love to see the Hughes's again!"
Maybe he was in a good mood because he was getting his arm back, or maybe he got all his anger out against Lan Fan, but Edward smiled anyway. "Okay then we'll all go!"
Beryl kicked her legs against the bench she sat on, "I've never been to Central before, could be fun!"
"Yay we're going to Central! How Exciting!" Ling chimed from the windowsill; Edward grit his teeth as his smile morphed into a growl.
He snapped, "I told you you're not coming with us!"
Beryl couldn't help it, she laughed so hard her cheeks hurt, something she hadn't done in a long time. For some reason, being around the Elrics and Winry with the promise of visiting the capital city felt kinda nice.
Yeah they were idiots… but she was kind of an idiot too for being friends with them.
Out in the Amestris countryside, you could see into the starry sky for miles, but on this particular night every star was covered by clouds.
A lonely wagon trekked along the dirt road, slowly but surely moving towards Central.
With a flick of the reigns, a small man flinched when his passenger cracked open some nuts with his bare hands. "Um… sir?"
A grunt was his only reply.
"If you wouldn't mind, you've never told me your real name…"
He was met with silence, as his passenger rolled the nuts between his mammoth fingers, fingers attached to muscular arms painted with intricate alchemic tattoos.
The man hummed solemnly, "Ishvalan names are sacred, they are gifts from God himself… I have renounced my own."
The driver of the cart grimaced, his hands falling slack on the reigns as he thought about how low he'd become to seek employment from an Ishvalan…
"Keep moving!" the brute snapped, startling the driver into making the horse go faster. The Ishvalan leaned his head out of the cover of the cart, the clouds parting enough for a beam of moonlight to reveal the gruesome scar carved into his face.
His scowl deepened as he stared up at the sky, the moon retreating back behind clouds just like God turning away from him.
"I am on a path of no return…"
But he could not stop. He would not stop. Not until every alchemist met their end at his hands.
This one was loooooooong! I think i'm going to stop setting specific word limits for chapters, because it has come to my attention that it makes the story seem to go too slow. So from today on I will try to make them longer. And trust me more will be happening soon, what with Scar and the Homunculi and all, plus some more BerAl fodder! that's what i'm calling Beryl and Alphonse, Ber-Al! Ciao!