Chapter 12- Where the Blame Falls

Raeluvs

The room exuded an excruciating silence that screamed louder than words, painful as tears, and with all the rage of a broken heart. From the ground, the glimmering white stone mocked them both, reflecting two shattered souls in faultless white.

"You did what you could, Fullmetal." Roy began, trying to find words that could dull the shock that was plain in his eyes. "You did more than anyone would have, forging a stone that was thought a myth. You're a real prodigy, kid."

"Spare me the pleasantries." Edward spat through gritted teeth, his voice low and broken. "When did it happen." It wasn't a question so much as a statement. Roy didn't falter in his reply.

"About ten minutes ago." Edward stiffened visibly. "I had gone to get a doctor with Lieutenant Hawkeye and Sciezka stayed behind to keep Al stable. She--"

"Sciezka." Edward uttered her name like it was poison. Roy broke off, surprised at the sudden rage in the boy's tone. "She promised me."

"What?"

"She promised me!" Edward shouted, his shaking hands balling into fists, anger so powerful that it made him tremble. "Dammit, Colonel, she promised me that she'd help him! That she'd look out for him!"

"And you blame her for not keeping Al stable?" Roy queried. Edward felt his face redden, the muscles around his eyes tightening as he narrowed them to thin, golden slits.

"He was left in her care and she didn't save him!" he screamed back, stamping his foot on the ground in frustration. "There must have been something she could do! She knows more than any doctor in Central; she's read EVERY medical text in the main library here and in East City! She could have done something. She should have done something!"

Roy stared down at Edward, his face blank, his eyes glassy. Edward looked past him for a moment, his eyes flitting dejectedly from Roy to Alphonse and back again. Anger boiled over what should have been sorrow as he convinced himself that he could never be to blame for this, that he had risked his life for this and that he had not failed. That if she had found some way, any way, to keep him breathing for just ten more minutes, then it would all have been all right. This was not his fault.

"Are you done trying to shift the blame to your friend?" Roy asked softly, his voice neither accusatory nor implicative. His tone was merely quiet, almost expectant, like a parent waiting patiently for the truth from a lying child.

"What?" Edward asked, snapping out of his thoughts for a moment to listen. What could Roy possibly have to say to him now?

"Are you done blaming your friend for what happened?" Roy repeated. "Because as you stand here, holding her alone responsible for the death of your brother, she is listening to every word you're saying." Edward stared for a moment, confused, trying to grasp what Roy was saying.

"She's standing right outside that door."

She walked down the halls with her glasses in her trembling hands, her head cast down as she watched her footsteps one by one clack against the tiled floor, tears dripping off her face and dropping as she walked. Sciezka had just emerged after about twenty minutes from the restroom, avoiding Edward and the confrontation that was surely inevitable. He hated her; she had deducted that much from waiting outside Alphonse's room.

She walked on this way for a few minutes before striding directly into Lieutenant Hawkeye, which knocked her to the ground.

"Sorry, sir." She managed, picking herself up off the dusty floors and sliding her glasses back on. She prepared to walk on, when Riza instinctively grabbed her shoulder.

"Sciezka…?" She asked, perplexedly, taking in the sight of the disheveled woman. Her eyes were red and swollen, her face stained with tear tracks. She felt her heart sink as she realized that the inevitable must have happened. "Did… Al--?"

"Yes." She interrupted almost irritably. Riza swallowed hard, trying to maintain professional, russet eyes glazing over with thin tears.

"I see. Is there any way we can alert--?"

"He made it in about three minutes after it happened." She said just as quickly as before. Riza was thrown off guard by Sciezka's replies; while it was natural for her to be upset, she seemed… different.

"What's the matter?" Riza asked gently, the grip on her shoulder lessening. Sciezka looked at Riza imploringly, as though if she explained, Riza would fix it all. She was always so in control, despite any situation, but being in control couldn't undo the past.

"Al died and I was there." She muttered. "I couldn't keep him stable… and I promised Edward that I'd…" her voice faded off; she jerked her arm away from Riza.

"Sciezka,"

"There's something that I need to do." She returned, forming a wavering salute, and walking away briskly, feeling the eyes of her superior burn into her back.

Her ramshackle office was piled to the ceiling with old papers, case files, books, and photographs. As she expected, a fresh stack of pamphlets, notes and thin guide books upon the cluttered desk, delivered by Gracia Hughes shortly after Edward had set out on his journey for the Omega. She sat down at her desk and skimmed over the pages, tears blotting an occasional word, slipping through delicate fingers as jade eyes scrutinized the sheet.

Facts, figures, numbers; rules and regulation were cut clearly as diamonds, black and white on the page, clear as crystal. These were what she was used to, burying herself in this text on this page, trying to block out the rest of the world. And she did; working herself into the pages, the tears finally stopped falling and her interest sparked.

'I will make this up to Edward and Alphonse.' She thought determinedly, as she turned a page. 'I'm not breaking anymore promises.'

Edward sat alone in the room, the door closed behind him. He sat with his elbows balanced on his knees, his face resting in his hands, staring at his little brother as though watching an infant sleep. It had been hours, yet the tears had not come, and that was all right with him. Despite the morose setting, Edward didn't feel particularly sad, his lips even upturned at the sight of his brother appearing so peaceful at last. The place was surreal, and the moment didn't exist; the last threads of time had fallen like grains of sand from an hourglass, down to the faraway ticking of the watch in his pocket. Distant words drifted through his mind, replaying again and again in his head.

"You realize that she's standing right outside the door, don't you?"

Edward's anger toward Sciezka had lessened, and what he had said hadn't particularly struck him yet. A dull ache was beginning to fester in his heart, but he suppressed it, as if putting off a task to revisit later, at a more appropriate time.

"Alphonse," he said softly, his voice thin, laced over with confusion and the thinnest thread of guilt. "Al, what'd I do to you?"

A knock upon the hollow wooden door echoed through his thoughts like a rock being thrown into a tranquil pond. Life did exist outside this room, a thought that puzzled Edward.

"Yeah, c'mon in." He said, indicating the visitor. The world spiraled before his eyes as the door opened, reality hitting him like a slap in the face. The room was stuffy and hot, the air heavy; the floors were thin and dusty, the walls bleak. The lights flickered and blinked, casting shadow over Alphonse's pallid face, and the door hung open, pale, insipid light casting glare over the appearance of his caller. All of this, these features that had been blurred by dulled senses, was amplified; it was as though it had been magnified thousands of times, sharper, clearer, almost painfully so. A voice came soft, lightening the tension in the air.

"Edward…?" came Sciezka's feeble tenor, her voice soft and tentative. Edward didn't move, merely nodded once, gesturing with his chin to the chair nearest him.

"Al was doing okay at last." She said softly, taking her seat, pulling her glasses from her face and toying with them in her hands. "His breathing was slowly steadying, and the Colonel and first lieutenant had left to find a doctor. Al happened to tell me something that he had said to me years before, about my photographic memory. It appeared that somehow, his memory had returned, right before death." Her tone eased over the words like a river over rocks, dripping down smoothly, as though telling a story. Edward's face tightened slightly with remembrance.

"I asked him three questions." She continued, her eyes resting upon Alphonse fondly, as though watching over a sleeping child, in much the same way Edward had. Edward had turned to her now, interest sparking in his eyes. "I asked him about Nina Tucker, about Lab 5," Edward flinched visibly at the mention of the lab. Her voice softened to a gentler tone.

"And…" she felt her voice catch in her throat. "I asked him what your greatest weakness was." Edward's face darkened, eyes flashing. He made no move to speak, but his gaze remained upon her expectantly.

"He answered me, and suddenly launched into a violent coughing stream, hemorrhaging. By the time the Colonel arrived, there was nothing more that either of us could have done. Internal bleeding caught up with him before it could be altered." She said, as though reciting text from a medical encyclopedia, her words as fake as a dictionary definition.

"Yeah, I showed up for that part." His eyes narrowed accusingly, his anger growing once more. "What's your point?"

"My point is that I found it strange that right before the point of death, Alphonse's memory returned." She said, her voice taking on a new tenor. Edward's angry mien dissipated; confusion etched his taut features."Alphonse's pupils dilated rapidly before the hemorrhaging started, his face taking on a very tight, rigid appearance. The pupils of his eyes grew very small, though the light that was being taken in couldn't have caused them to dilate so rapidly. Certain parts of his body reacted at this time and during the time of death. This indicated massive usage of brain." She explained, trying to depict the technical foundation of her point.

"Go on," he said eagerly, his hands clamped onto his knees like a child waiting for the end of an epic battle in a fairytale. Sciezka cleared her throat, returning her glasses to her face.

"I did some research, and as it turns out, a certain section in the back-left part of your brain is called the Homunculus." Edward blanched upon hearing the word.

"Homunculus!" he repeated, incredulous. She nodded hurriedly.

"Yes. This function of your brain controls all activity happening at once. The typical human uses only 10 of their brain regularly, and the other 90 differentiates between functions. Alphonse wasn't even using 10 before, only about 6 or 8, because of lack of memory. My study states that shortly before Alphonse started hemorrhaging, the homunculus part of his brain launched into full effect."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that Alphonse used the other 90 of his brain, complicating all of his bodily functions including sight, limb and other appendage control, and brain pressure, as well as speeding up all organs active in his body." She finished rapidly, "despite these complications, his body withstood this pressure long enough to clarify that his memory had returned in this rush of brain usage."

"Sciezka, that's amazing!" Edward said, his voice commending, his anger faded. She smiled in thanks, gratitude evident on her strained features. "So, Alphonse died because of the same thing that brought back his memory?" he asked hesitantly.

"The pressure eventually built up…" her voice faded, the slightly triumphant twist to it disappearing. "And it shut down all brain function, which stopped the hemorrhaging and killed him instantly afterward." Edward nodded once, feeling the raw throb in his chest regenerate. He glanced at the stone that remained on the ground, the dim light of the room flickering off the pearl-like surface. He couldn't help but think that he had gone through so much for one moment that had escaped him, and that despite everything, he had failed his brother.

"While that's interesting and it clears a lot up," Edward said with a pained sigh, "it won't bring my brother back… thank you, Sciezka… I'm sorry for what I said." At his side, she stood, walking around the back of his chair and taking the Omega into her hands. Sciezka kneeled down before him and extended her arm, the glimmering white stone reflected in torn golden eyes.

"I didn't tell you all of that for the sake of you knowing, you know." She said matter-of-factly. Edward met her eyes uncertainly, perplexed.

"What?" he asked, a faint chord of hope being plucked within the deepest cavern of his heart. She smiled thinly and dropped the Omega into his hand.

"I have a plan."

A/N- HI! Haha, I know SO many of you who thought chapter 11 was the end of the story and trust me, I got reviews from hell from all the Aru fangirls. I can honestly say that I never really liked Al til I saw later sub episodes of the series, and he grew on me. I felt so bad for doing what I did xD. Just the same, here's your chapter.

I guess that means I should figure out some kind of plan for Sciezka, huh? Hm. Oh, and I'm very sorry that it took over a month for me to update. I was lazy and was avoiding it.

Okay, great American novel author's note is complete, I know you hate my ramblings. Thank you to my dear friends and reviewers. I appreciate every one, even the ones from hell. Til the next and I think second-to-last chapter, Ja ne!

Rae