"Devilish Alchemy"

by AC's Lovechild

A/N of doom: No, trust me, this isn't my first fic. Crossover with the manga Diabolo, which I highly recommend! Anyway, on to the story.

Part Two: The Travesty Continues

Rai was feeling remarkably better about life in general. He was even chirping in occasionally as Ren went on about his Great Dreams. Ren was certain this had nothing to do with the fact that in their wanderings about 1914 Germany, they had discovered the local bar.

"'Me 'n' you, together we two, don't you say adieu, that'd make me so blue...' How's that sound, Ren?"

Evidently, there was no ultimate defense for morosely downing three beers in half an hour on a more or less empty stomach.

"I think... I like mine better. 'Would you could you be mine now, won't you can't you kneel and bow'..."

"Oh, Ren, my dear… to think you were the one that almost got to finish high school. Mine's so much better."

Ren stared.

"Um, sure. The next line goes 'If you would I'd give you more than you've ever seen before.'"

"They're both bad," grumbled the bartender who had just realized their particular beverages had not been paid for. "Pay up!"

At that point it was highly fortunate that Ren was still sober.

"We… uh, well, see, we don't have any money…"

Sans remorse the bartender demanded that they start washing dishes. Until—

A girl walked into the barroom.

A pretty girl. Rai was reminded of Mio. Ren was reminded of Mio. Except Mio had been younger, of course, but, you know, the curly hair and cuteness was all the same. For a dear sweet moment they were both about to call out her name, shout, "Mio, Mio, we've found you at last…"

Then reality sank back in when the girl tossed coins on the bar with an oddly metallic couple of fingers.

"That's for them," she said.

"Mio! You're here!" and there was a dazed grin on Rai's face. "And… cuter. Look, there's Ren over there! What happened to your fingers?"

Ren mentally stabbed himself for ever thinking getting Rai drunk would solve any problems.

"You idiot! If she's not Mio you just blew our—"

"I'm Mio all right! Ooh Ren and Rai it's been so long… you look so tense… hey, since when did you have a ponytail, Rai?"

"Since a couple of years ago—oh, Mio!"

"Mio!" Ren agreed. After all, they'd only spent nearly a year looking for her together. Then again, though, Rai only spent ten years looking for Ren. So it was quite easy to leave the welcome at that.

And then Rai hugged her and Ren hugged her and said oh how they'd missed her and everything was going to be all right, and they'd protect her forever and ever or at least until the devil got them—and Mio stared.

"Ren... are you sure you're okay?"

"O-of course I'm okay!"

Mio kept glancing at him nervously.

"I mean, the devil… really, Ren, what're you talking about?"

Rai stepped in.

"See, Mio, we had to make a deal with him back the last time we saw you. Don't worry about it, though, 'cause now you can join our band, okay?"

"Mio's not joining our—"

"You have a band?"

"Let's see… I really like this one. 'When the world is just us, everyone else can go bust… it's a must…'"

"It's better than what Rai wrote, at any rate."

"Hey!"

Mio laughed and ran her oddly metallic fingers through her hair.

"And we need a name for the band. Something catchy."

"Yeah…" Ren paused. "Mio, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what?"

He bit his lip.

"What happened to your fingers?"

"Oh!" Mio smiled. "There was an accident, so I had to get them replaced."

"Replaced?"

"Yeah. Automail."

Ren blinked. Rai blinked (the alcohol had more or less worn off by Mio's tenth attempt at song lyrics).

"Don't you know about automail? Well, don't worry about it, then. It may not be pretty, but it works, don't you think?"

She was being remarkably nonchalant about the fact, but Ren let it slide in his quickly-waning bliss over finding his cousin again.

Rai, however, now back to his senses, was suspicious.

"You seem… really happy, Mio…"

"I am! Happy you've found me after ten years, happy you're both okay, happy you've gotten cute, Rai!"

"I've gotten cute?"

"Sure! It's your hair. Anyway, I'm glad for you. See, it's the power of friendship that we're all back together again, like when we were kids in that vacant lot we shouldn't have been in in the first place! Yup!"

Rai raised his eyebrows.

"Shouldn't that lot bring back a lot of bad memories for you, Mio?"

"Of course not! That was great, remember? We'd be playing tag and ring-round-the-rosie, and all of that!"

Ren caught on suddenly.

"But… Mio, that was where we did the ritual…"

"Yeah, which was awesome! It got me here in 1914!"

Ren's eyes widened.

"You mean that was what sent you here?"

"Uh-huh! Gee, Ren, where'd you think I'd gone?"

"No further than Tokyo…. if you weren't dead…"

"Oh, Rai, that's so funny…"