Silver Linings

Chapter 4 – Silver Secrets

Ed knelt to pick up a charred piece of wood as he looked around at the destruction. Lillian's circles had done their task, since there were no buildings left standing. His auto-mail crushed the wood in his hand. As he stood the ashes mixed with the sand at his feet.

"Don't let your guard down Al, we don't know who or what is out there in the shadows."

"Do you think Lilly is okay?" Al asked as they moved cautiously deeper into the smoldering ruins. The concern he felt for the healer was evident in his voice.

"I don't know, Al, all we can do is hope." Ed caught sight of a shadowed shape which looked out of place and hurried over to it.

Al noticed it as well and his large legs reached the mysterious object before Ed. "It's another one of DePuy's chimeras, brother, thought we killed them all. We barely made it past his pack … Lilly …" He fell silent.

Ed cursed under his breath, as he looked the body over. "Well, she got this one pretty good, looks like she hit its heart. Don't give up on her, Al! Keep looking, she could be hurt or maybe she made it out and headed to join the rest of the Ishmar people."

As his brother wandered off to search, Ed paused to examine the remains of a transmutation circle on one of the destroyed porches. "Crude but effective."

"Brother!"

The alarm in Al's voice was evident and Ed rushed to his brother's side ready for battle. The initial apprehension quickly became dread as he saw what his brother held in his hand.

"It's Lilly's bag she wouldn't have left without it." Al's voice was choked with emotions.

"We don't know what happened here, Al."

"Lilly!"

Al's shout caught Ed by surprise. "Al! We don't know where that DePuy guy is … let's not go advertising ourselves quite yet."

"Lilly!" Ignoring his brother's warning Al continued to shout, both Elrics listened for a reply.

"Al," Ed said softly, placing a hand on his brother's arm. "She's not here or if she is she's no longer capable of answering."

"I shouldn't have left her." Al's shoulders slumped.

"Al, she would have … what the hell!" Ed yelled out in alarm as something grabbed his left ankle. He jumped back freeing himself. In the moonlight he and Al stared in disbelief at a hand reaching out of the sand that gleamed silver.

"What the hell?" Ed repeated.

Al shoved his brother aside and started digging at the sand. "It's Lilly!"

Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. The soil in front of him began to rise up in the form of a giant hand. The sand rained down on them and revealed in the palm of his creation was the crumpled form of Lillian. Ed gasped in surprise as she stirred coughing and gasping for air. He gently dissolved his formation back into the ground and joined Al where he cradled her in his arms.

All three were quiet as Lillian continued to cough and brush the sand from her veil and face. "Thought I was dead for sure." She finally choked out. "The sand was loose enough for a little air to make it to me and my veil blocked it from flowing into my mouth. But I couldn't move, it was like being buried alive."

Lillian's chokes became sobs and Ed placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. It was then that he noticed the cool touch under his hand and pulled back slightly. Her sleeve had been torn away and revealed her right arm was completely covered in silver. "Wow, that's some fancy auto-mail you have, Lilly."

"We're not safe here. I wasn't able to stop DePuy." Lillian's voice was hoarse from sand and tears.

"You relax, Lilly, catch your breath. Al and I will handle DePuy now, since you've done your part."

Lillian nodded and relaxed in Al's arms, closing her eyes as he stood. Her right arm slid off her chest and Ed caught it and went to place it back when he paused and lifted it up in the air a couple of times.

"Lilly?"

"Hmm?" Came the mumbled reply.

"This auto-mail is so light, what is it made out of?"

The hand he was holding was jerked out of his grasp and tucked against her chest. Alert eyes looked back at him from behind her veil. "Something my father made for me, sorry I don't know the particulars."

Ed knew once more he was getting half-truths, but decided they weren't at the best place to discuss it. "Okay, let's find some place safe to wait the night out then we'll go hunting for DePuy."

"There is a storm shelter under where the church stood. I assume it's still intact, but it may be a death trap if DePuy finds us."

"Agreed, we need to find someplace where he can't sneak up on us." Ed looked around; in the darkness all he could see was the glowing embers of dying fires.

"Honestly, Ed, this may be the safest place for us. If DePuy was still here the ground would have been alive by now. He's retreated back to his hole. As long as we are vigilant we should be okay." Lillian motioned for Al to set her down, which he did carefully.

Ed couldn't take his eyes off her silver arm; the moonlight illuminated it as she moved. She looked over at him to find him staring and self-consciously placed her other hand over her metallic arm. "That's the reason I keep it covered, so no one knows about it."

Ed flexed his own auto-mail arm. "I don't see anything weird about having a metal arm. What about you Al?"

His brother chuckled as he moved his own metal arms. "Nope, nothing weird at all."

Lillian rewarded them with a small smile. "Let's get comfortable … well not too comfortable, it will be dawn in a couple hours and then we can finally end this."

The Elrics nodded and settled down in the shadows of the dying town to wait until daylight.

***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***

Lillian sat with her knees drawn up to her chin and used the sitting Al as a backrest with his approval. Nearby, Ed was stretched out using his overcoat as a pillow. His steady breathing suggested he was resting, confident his brother would alert him to any trouble.

"You should rest too, Lilly."

Glancing over her shoulder at him she nodded. "I know, but I just can't get the feeling of earlier out of my head. To be so close to death and … well, you wouldn't understand."

"I understand plenty what it means to be close to death, Lilly. The pain, fear … yes I understand. But you didn't die, so you shouldn't dwell on it. Move forward!"

"I always do, Alphonse. I know in my head I'm alive but at the moment my heart hasn't caught up. If you want I can take first watch and you can rest a bit."

"Um …" she could hear the hesitancy in his voice. "Well, if you insist just holler if you need me." He finished quickly and fell silent.

Lillian relaxed against his cool back as he rested, listening. "No heartbeat … no breathing …your arm is back as if nothing happened," she thought to herself. "He sounds so hollow except when he speaks, and then his words overflow with emotions as if that is all he has left. Oh, Alphonse, what are you?" Sighing she stood and stretched her arms above her head. She quickly dropped them when she noticed her silver arm shining like a beacon. "Got to fix that."

Looking through her bag she found a clean tunic and glanced around for a place to change. There was nothing in close proximity and she didn't want to wander too far. Lillian glanced over at the Elrics; Ed was asleep with his back to her and Al … well as far as she could tell he was also resting. She would have to risk it. Ed had called her arm auto-mail and she hadn't corrected him since the truth wasn't something she wanted to reveal. Turning her back to the others she slipped out of her ruined shirt cautiously. She glanced down; the silver didn't stop at her shoulder, veins of it spread out across her chest and down her back.

A soft noise came from behind her and as she jerked around, the silver across her chest flowed to cover her breasts. Ed's gaze was on her and she knew it wasn't her state of undress that caused the wonderment reflected in his eyes. Al had tilted his head away in respect but Ed stood and moved closer.

"Lillian … what are you?" He reached for her silver hand and she let him, wrapping her fingers around his.

She was surprised by his question. "I'm human, Ed. Just like you and Al, I have metal mixed with flesh."

"This is not auto-mail." Ed declared as he ran his hand over her arm.

"No it's not, Ed." She sighed and then reached a decision. "It's Truesilver."

The young alchemist gasped. "Impossible! How?"

Lillian glanced over her shoulder into the darkness and in the same moment freed her hand. "I've said too much already. I promised to keep it a secret and I don't know what lurks out there." She slipped on the tunic and the silver disappeared underneath, except for what could be seen on her right hand. "Since you both are awake, I'm going to look around. Don't worry I'll be careful."

Neither tried to stop her as she disappeared into the night.

***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***XX***

"Brother, is Truesilver what I remember it being?"

Ed shook his head slightly trying to clear the shock from his system. "Yes, Al, it can only be created by alchemy and it's very rare. In all the books we read to find information about the philosopher stone, we have to read a thousand more and might be able to write a page of information on Truesilver. It's more forbidden to create than lead into gold."

"Why? It's just a metal …" Al's confusion hung in the air.

"Just a metal? Didn't you see it? It moved on its own! Truesilver is the living metal." The awe in his voice was still evident.

"Living metal … I don't understand?"

"Neither did I, until now and I'm still not sure I understand. I'd love to get a closer look."

Al chuckled softly. "You already got a pretty close look there, brother. You could have waited until she had her shirt on."

Ed's cheeks flared with embarrassment. "Yeah, well." A brilliant flash on the other side of the ruined town cut off his reply.

"That's the light from a transmutation!" Al declared already moving.

"Damn, why did she have to wander off?" Ed raced alongside his brother, his auto-mail leg aiding his speed. "Maybe it's not what we think it is," he said hopefully.

The sandstorm that came into view destroyed that fragile hope and the Elrics only paused a moment before racing toward the mayhem.

"Let's finish this, Al!"

Chapter 5 - Karma

"Well, that explains that." Ed said aloud as he once again found solid footing. "But now what?"

"Not to sound too cliché, but now you die!"

All Fullmetal Alchemist /Hagane no Renkinjutsushi characters and pictures are copyright © 2004, 2005 HIROMU ARAKAWA/SQUARE ENIX, MBS, ANX, BONES, Dentsu
Fullmetal Alchemist copyright © 2004, 2005 FUNimation Productions, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.