Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry for the late update! It has been a long and hectic week for me and my husband. I hope you can forgive me. It is a short chapter but I hope you can forgive me! The next chapter is MUCH longer.
Still looking for a beta reader if anyone wants to volunteer please send me a PM. Thank you.
The dim light from the open door illuminated the alley. Ed was bent over Al's chest piece while I was cleaning the back of Al's armor. I hadn't spoken since Ed had yelled at me. Ed had made it a point to not acknowledge my presence. Al must have picked up on the tension because his red orbs would flit between me and his older brother.
The wet rag in my hand glided over the bumpy metal. My purple eyes were downcast as I worked. "Leah." My body froze as I heard Ed mention my name. "How did you know Greed?" Al's small gasp echoed in my ears. My gaze flitted to Major Armstrong, who stood a few feet away observing the exchange. "He called you a blast from the past. He also had an ouroboros tattoo on his hand. How do you know him?" The question was more stern this time. My eyes floated upward and finally rested on the blonde teen. His golden eyes narrowed as he regarded me.
Taking a deep breath, I began. "Remember when I said I had a large family? They physically and mentally…" I paused. My carnal instincts refused to allow me to admit my weakness. "Greed got me out. He found me, and got me out. He freed me, somewhat. After getting me out, he taught me to fight and be useful. After a few years we went our separate ways. Our goals didn't align, so I left." My eyes had drifted back down during my admittance. I stared at the damp cloth in my gloved hands. It wasn't a lie but not the full truth either.
"Did you know what he was?" Ed grilled me further.
Not looking at the blonde, I spoke. "Yes, considering I lived with the guy for years. Yeah, I knew he was a homunculus." My hand gripped the rag in a tight fist. How would the brothers react if they found out what I was? Would they hate me? Think I was a freak and automatically outcast me? All of these questions made me feel like I was being judged. Ed may grow to hate me more if he ever learned the truth. The homunculi were a cause for grief after all. Ed was bound to lose all trust while Al…I couldn't help but think I would lose him as well. After Hughes…I can't fail.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner? Did you know he was here?" Ed's voice rose with each question. Scratch what I thought, Ed's trust was most likely already long gone. Biting my bottom lip, I glowered at the blonde.
"Brother, that's enough!" My eyes widened at Al's defense of me. "She said she and Greed went their separate ways years ago. I doubt she knew his current plans." Stop it…I didn't deserve such kindness. What he said was true but I have done nothing to earn such words.
Clicking his tongue, Ed went back to wiping Al's chest piece.
Armstrong took a step forward and spoke. "Edward, be careful." My eyes watched the burly man. His blue eyes were on the older brother. "Do not do anything rash." Armstrong grasped the teen by his shoulders. With a puzzled expression, Ed nodded. "I'll take my leave then." Releasing the teen, Armstrong stood and began walking away. Before reaching the end of the alley, he turned. His blue eyes examined me carefully. "You too leah. Hughes would hate it if you got injured."
My eyes narrowed in pain. "I know…" With a deep breath I nodded. At my acceptance, Armstrong left.
"Brother," I stepped away from Al and put my rag back into the dirty bucket. "They are back. All of my memories of when my body was taken away. I remember." Sighing, I took a seat on the concrete steps next to the younger brother.
Gasping, Ed asked, "What did you see?"
Waving his arms around like noodles, Al said, "It was definitely weird, but unfortunately I didn't find out anything about how to get our bodies back."
With a small smile Ed stated, "That's okay." With a grunt, Ed picked up Al's chest piece and handed it to his younger brother.
Clipping it back on, Al sighed. "Despite all that trouble we haven't made any progress."
Shaking his head, Ed answered, "No, that's not true. We learned quite a bit. Greed was connected to the homunculi in the 5th laboratory. All of the unrest within the military has something to do with the philosopher's stone and them." My breath hitched. They met more than just Greed already? I fought to keep my expression neutral as anxiety spiked in my system. "Leah," I blinked once and then turned my gaze to Ed. "You knew Greed and said he got you out and he is connected to the other homunculi. Does that mean you know of the other homunculi as well?"
Yes. "No." The lie flew from my mouth quickly. "I had no clue that there were others." The lies tasted sour coming from my mouth. Ed's golden gaze burned into me as he thought over my response.
With a sigh, Ed moved on to my relief. "Newest question is, why did the Fuhrer slaughter everyone? If he was trying to figure out what they were up to, why didn't he catch anyone to make them talk?"
Was he asking me? With narrowed eyes, I thought back to my interactions with the Fuhrer and his with Greed. "He took Greed with him, he could make him talk if he wanted. Greed can't be killed easily." I responded to the teen even if the question wasn't directed towards me. My suspicion was that the Fuhrer was sent by him to keep Greed from blabbing any information. My eyes widened slightly as another thought crossed my mind. Then why didn't the Fuhrer capture me as well? He had to know how I escaped, let alone that I was back in the country of Amestris. Why wasn't I taken as well? My mind swirled with all of the possibilities and questions that weren't being answered.
Al's head bobbed in agreement with my previous statement. "It also seems weird that the Fuhrer himself came to deal with such a small group." Another unanswered question. Why send the Fuhrer? Why eyes widened with realization. Could the Fuhrer be…
"None of this adds up. Despite being warned we need to get closer." Ed held his chin with his hand. Ed was both right and wrong at the same time. Some answers were there, and it did add up. Without me coming forth, they would not easily find them though.
Ed's POV
Both brothers now resided in their shared room. Leah had returned to her own room awhile ago. Ed laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Sighing, he tossed and turned in the bed.
"Brother, you should get some rest." Al sat on the floor, a book open in his hands.
"I can't. She isn't telling us everything." Sitting up, Ed ran his metal hand through his loose hair.
"No, she isn't." Al agreed. "But, I think we can still trust her brother." Al closed his book and shifted to look at the elder brother.
"I don't know Al. What makes you think that?"
"She lived with the Hughess' for a couple of months. He even allied her to help him with his work. Someone like Hughes wouldn't keep someone malicious around his family. I believe he is a good judge of character." Al's reasoning made sense to the teen but it did little to quell his anger. "Give her time brother. Based on the little we already know about her, she has been through a lot. She is similar to us."
Ed's eyes narrowed as he sighed. Al was right, like normal. Begrudgingly, he admitted to himself that he should apologize to Leah. It wasn't right of him to blow up at her, especially after hearing what transpired from Al.
The mattress squeaked as the teen laid back down. 'I'll speak with her in the morning.'
Leah's POV
Izumi had been rightfully pissed. The woman had berated all three of us this morning. Between not putting the broom away, having the military in her home, and Ed and Al coming back bloody; we were lucky to get away with her only yelling at us.
Avoiding the brothers, I was currently barricaded in the bathroom. With the door locked and the water running, I stared at my reflection. I was reaching my limit in hiding my ruined sweater. I could feel the push and tug on the stones as they fought one another. I felt the tingling sensation over my torso once more. Red sparks appeared over my body. The new looking sweater faded, leaving my real ruined one behind. With a gasp, my body crumpled onto the wooden floor. Red sparks still jolted across my entire form as the souls and alchemic energy fought. It hurt and I let out little gasps as I fought to remain quiet.
I huddled and hugged my stomach as I rode out the pain that assaulted my body. To escape the onslaught of pain, memories of Greed surfaced.
-85 years ago-
"Come on kid! Get up!" I laid on the ground panting. Greed had handed my ass to me for the umpteenth time. The man currently stood off to the side grumbling with his arms crossed. "Some tool you are, if you can't activate your abilities." He continued to reprimand me.
Continuing to pant, I felt aggravated by his words. I was trying. It has been fifteen years since he got me out, and I owed much to him. I was trying. "I'm sorry Greed." The words were whispered towards the agitated man.
My apology only seemed to aggravate him further. "Sorry, sorry. That's all you ever say. Prove to me you're sorry by using it!" A kick to my stomach caused me to throw up bile onto the soft grass. This is how it was. Greed wasn't all bad, he got me out after all. Greed was trying to teach me to use the abilities I had been given. Despite the reprimands and the thrashings, it was still better than that hell. Anything was better than that place.
While biting my bottom lip, I stood to my feet on shaky legs. The thrashings and yells were starting to piss me off. More at myself than at Greed. He asked me to be a tool. He asked me for help and released me as payment; and yet, here I was useless. Useless because I couldn't use the abilities forced upon me. Useless because all I did was apologize. Useless because I couldn't help him. I raised my balled fists and launched myself at the homunculus. He parried my thrown out fist and sent me flying again with a kick. Why…why couldn't I be useful. I had to be.
Stumbling to my feet again, I glared at Greed. Purple eyes like my own widened for a moment. A wide smile, not a smirk, played across his lips. "There it is. Not the one we wanted but there it is." He sprung forward but his moves seemed sluggish compared to normal. I could see where he was moving to and what he was going to do. With haste, I dodged to the left avoiding a clawed fist. I grabbed his outstretched arm and lurched my leg forward, aiming to trip Greed. Instead of tripping him, I only hindered myself. He kicked my knee with his heavy boot, forcing me to fall forward and release his arm.
"Dammit…" I cursed. I narrowed my eyes on the grass. With balled fists, I held up my body as my knees were firmly planted on the greenery. Glancing up, I saw Greed's signature smug smirk.
"It's an improvement kid, don't beat yourself up too much." My eyes widened at his compliment. They were rare and far between. With an open smile, I nodded quickly.
I stood up quickly and the process repeated once more.
-Present-
With the pain subsiding and the souls within me quieted, I began to breathe more evenly. I hated when I overused or used multiple abilities. It always strained my body and forced me into a vulnerable state. After years of working on using and working on getting them to even come out, me and Greed had quickly learned my limitations. The pain and loud souls overriding my senses being one of them.
With a sigh, I slowly stood and began peeling off one piece of clothing at a time. Soon enough, the ruined clothing sat in a discarded pile in the corner of the bathroom. I stared at myself in the tall mirror and grimaced. The damn symbols were clear on my pale skin. With my unmarked hand, I reached up and grasped the dog tags that still adorned my neck. I slowly blinked as I looked down and stared at the scratch marks hiding the name. "Hughes…" Sighing, I released the tags and my purple eyes drifted over to my tattooed hand.
I could hear Greed's voice echoing through my head. As messed up as being a tool was, he took care of me. He taught me how to fight and use the ultimate shield. He showed me what my limitations were, and attempted to mitigate them. Clenching my tattooed hand tightly, I hissed out, "I couldn't even be of use to him."
With a firm shake of my head, I looked towards the tub and shower spicket. Maybe I would feel better after a long shower.
—-
After the shower, I placed my ruined shirt in the trash, wearing only my white sweatshirt, gloves, and baggy khakis. Heaving a sigh, I opened the bathroom door and made my way down the hall. My goal was to get to my room without drawing attention from a certain blonde alchemist. Last thing I needed was questions or additional confrontations. One of the spare black turtleneck shirts was calling my name.
Mission failure, I was never that lucky for things to go as planned. As I rounded a corner, Ed was waiting. He stood by my bedroom door with his arms crossed over his chest. Glowering, I averted my gaze. His own golden stare seemed to be studying me. Tense and awkward silence hummed between the both of us.
Heaving out a breath, I turned to head to a different part of the house. "Hey wait!" Ed grabbed my wrist forcing me to stop my retreat.
Swiftly I turned around and glared at him. "What do you want, Ed? If it's to yell and call me 'some bodyguard' then you may need to go and find someone else. I refuse to be a verbal punching bag, kid." I punctuated my sentence by tearing my captured wrist from Ed's grasp.
"No...it's not…that. I just wanted to…" The teen stammered. A scowl overtook his features as he struggled with his words. Arching an eyebrow, I waited. "Listen, it wasn't right of me to yell at you like I did. Al explained to me what happened." Ed's golden gaze looked everywhere but at me. "It wasn't your fault. So…sorry." At his final words, Ed frowned while blushing.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see a glint of my head, I could just see Al ducking back behind the corner of the wall. Narrowing my eyes, I sighed. I walked past Ed and placed my hand on the doorknob to my bedroom. "Truce." was my only response as I entered the guest room, closing the door behind me.
—-
Ed's POV
The teen stared at the closed door. He could hear Al approach him slowly from behind. "Brother…"
Interrupting Al, Ed said, "Come on, we will be leaving in the morning for Rush Valley." Turning away from the door Ed began walking away.
Al watched his older brother retreat and sighed.