Halfmetal Alchemist: Chapter 31

Anri met them halfway to Aquorya and Ilia looked at Leroy questioningly, eyebrows raised. He met her look and shrugged nonchalantly. "He's dad's uncle, our great uncle."

"Really?" she asked with interest. Anri nodded. "So that means you're Grandpa's brother?"

Anri nodded, a bit more slowly. "Yep. He was my older brother."

"You don't look that old..."

"Because I'm not that old! Geez... I'm only fourteen years older than your dad..."

"That's it? You must be sixty or something! You don't look it!"

"Enough of the age questions," Anri snapped. "I just need to take you back as quickly as possible."

"Oh? How will you be any faster than the train?" Ilia asked. Leroy gave her an exasperated look. "Just get in that wagon over there and I'll prove it!" Anri muttered sullenly. "A wagon?" Ilia said in disbelief. She got into the wagon and Leroy followed, helping Faris up as well. Anri took hold of the two metal handles in the front and took a deep breath. "You ready?" Leroy pulled Ilia to the ground and made her hold onto the wood tightly. Anri clapped his hands together and placed them on his automail legs. "Let's go!" he sped off over the hill and Leroy clenched his teeth. "So why exactly do we need to hurry?" he cried from the bouncing wagon.

"Your dad's in bad shape; needs help a.s.a.p."

Ilia felt like she was about to violently throw up over the side of the wagon. "What happened to him?"

"I'm not exactly sure; I didn't stick around for the details. He's bleeding pretty heavily, eye is reopened, can't really breathe properly. I say he needs a lot of help really fast. So I came down here."

"Um, exactly how long ago was that?"

"How long? Couldn't have been more than half an hour ago..."

"You got all the way here in half an hour?"

"No, of course not, I had to wait for you. That took about ten minutes."

"What!"

"Okay okay, no more questions from you two. Go to sleep or something."

"In a wagon for twenty minutes?"

"I told you to be quiet! Kids these days... Anything you want to contribute, Faris?"

"We know that Ultimus has the Blodhar Narque."

"Narque? But how?"

"We think he's broken into Rivant's vault; or at least disguised himself as someone who would have free access to it."

"Indeed. Are you sure it was Narque?"

"I'm positive. I saw it with my own eyes, but I wasn't certain. Now I am."

"How so?"

"It seems that the necklace the Fuhrer gave to his wife was Blodhar Emera; which means that it's possible that all the stones have somehow gotten into the jewelry market."

"That could only be Duron's work. He must have sold all of the Blodhar stones before Ultimus could get to them; risky, but it ensures their safety."

"But how will we find them again?"

"I don't know; they could be scattered all over the place. We should check with Lira's stash though, you know she likes nice jewelery."

" 'Nice'?"

"Okay, more than nice, she likes shiny beautiful jewelery. I should know."

"So we're supposed to check in every jewelery store in Amestris to find it?"

"That's the plan. Either that or go find the Homunculus with no protection when they have the Blodhar Narque. It wouldn't be an easy fight to say the least."

"So this is our only choice of action?"

"It is."

"Then we must find them."

"That's right. Now everyone out; we're home." The twins groaned from the backseat and felt their way over the edge. "God damn, remind me never to get in a wagon when your pulling, Uncle." Faris hopped out lightly and helped them out, then rushed into the house. "Auntie! Auntie!" Lira poked her head out from the kitchen and smiled. "Yes, what's the matter Faris?"

"C-can I... look at your jewelery?" Lira gave her a strange look and steered her towards the bedroom. "Finally interested are you? I was afraid you would never start acting like a woman." Faris gave her a strangled grin as Lira put a large drawered box onto the dresser. "There, you can pick some things from here."

"Okay, thanks. Can you call Leroy in here too?" Lira laughed. "Ohh, now I see. You want to impress him, do you?" Faris swallowed what she was about to say and nodded jerkily. "Alright, I'll send him in." She looked around the room for a minute, then back at Faris, shaking a finger at her. "No funny business in here, got it?"

Faris blanched. "What makes you think I would do that? I'm not like you when you fell for Sir Glenn."

"Now how would you know that?"

"Papa told me stories; loads of stories."

"Well we're still together aren't we? Now I'm going to check up on him; he shouldn't be running like that anymore..." she hurried out of the room and Leroy stepped in, eyeing the box critically. "Gee, is that it?" he said sarcastically. She held a necklace out to him, and a sudden thought entered his head. "If all these necklaces each have a special property, how will we know what is which?" he asked, staring at the sapphire necklace in his hand.

"Don't concentrate on flame alchemy, just use alchemy into that stone."

"Alright."

After an hours worth of testing, they staggered back into the living room. To his surprise, his father was sitting there, whole and happy. "Dad? You're okay!"

"Thanks to Ilia here, she's just like her grandmother," he chuckled, squeezing her shoulder.

"I told you I could heal him, and I did," she said proudly.

Roy became serious. "So what did you find?"

Anri sighed from the couch. "Probably that Lira has more jewelery than you can count on ten sets of fingers."

"I don't have that much." Anri laughed. "I don't know, I've seenyou in a lot of jewelery; and you probably got a little more since I was away." She looked offended. "I did not. I just wore the one you gave me before you left... you were gone for too long!" Anri patted her back. "I know, I know. I didn't like being away either. I sent you letters, didn't I?"

"Anyway! We found two, one amplifies light alchemy, the other amplifies fire." Leroy tossed the fire amplifier to his father. "You can take it, you're stronger than me."

Anri held out his hand. "I can do a lot of things with that light amplifier." Leroy tossed it to him and sighed. "Out of all of those... only two. Which isn't so bad I suppose..." he looked over at his parents. "MOM, DAD! GET A ROOM FOR GOD'S SAKE!" he screamed. Roy shot him an ugly look and Riza, if possible, shot him an uglier one.

"Look, I know Dad came really close to dying, but still! It's almost night anyway!"

Everyone then decided that it was in everyone else's best interest to retire to bed.

Woohoo, another chappie. I wish more people would review, but I can't wish too hard, it being school year and all. Please review as much as you can, and if you guys can do me a favor, read and review 'Climbing the Military Ladder' for me, will ya? Please? - T A