Halfmetal Alchemist
Chapter 40: Finale
The baby fox stirred in Maes's pocket at his grandfather's funeral procession, and Maes petted it gently with one finger, his other hand tightly wrapped in his father's hand. Alphonse had chosen not to come and had taken his children and Winry back to their deserted home to rebuild their house. Edward had also gone home to start work on his own house, and Terra and Ed stayed behind. Leroy had been Ed's grandfather too. Terra looked at her brother, his head bowed, face almost expressionless, his mouth compressed to a thin line, his eyes clouded. Faris was there as well, standing next to Leroy and Vergo to witness the burial of her loyal guardian, Glenn Anri Mustang, and his wife.
Lira had died only a week after Glenn had passed away, a seemingly natural death.
The coffins were lowered into the ground and buried, and Ed mulled over the question in his mind. Was it supposed to have ended this way, with so many dead? It seemed as if they had lost after all. In the end, it was they who had lost the most.
In faraway Rivant, a body deep inside the sacred rooms of Rivant's castle stirred; a finger twitched, then a foot, then a head shook as if rousing from a deep sleep. Green eyes flickered open and the hand moved again, feeling it's surroundings carefully, then moving up to touch his own face gently.
"I...I'm alive..." he mouthed. He looked at the two sprawled bodies next to him and his heart twinged regretfully. He could not do anything for the two here, but later... He got up with effort and strode out of the room with powerful strides, if rather uncoordinated, and threw the doors open with force, not flinching as the heavy gold slammed against cold marble. Flags and tapestries hung from the walls, the insignia of Rivant decorated the ceiling, and he threw open another set of doors to reveal a multitude of people sitting in the High Court.
His gaze swept over them slowly, carefully, and his arms came down to his sides. His hair was well past shoulder length, his clothes dirty and disheveled, though it was fortunate that he had already stopped growing before his sacrifice to the stone.
"I am Rohan Rivant. Anyone who putsforth claim to the throne contends with me."
The crowd gasped and they bowed; A royal had finally come forward to claim the throne.
After his mother was laid in the ground as well, Roy turned from the funeral to Jean Havoc. "The searching?" he asked quietly. Havoc cracked a small smile, his mouth devoid of a cigarette. "We've found Elysia and Gracia, if that's what you mean. They're fine. Hughes must still be protecting them, wherever he is."
"Yes... I think so too..."
Ed and Vergo walked to Faris, kneeling before her, and she told them to rise again. "We... we want to be your guardians." They said. She asked them their reasons.
"It... was what my father did. I'll be your guardian in his place!" Vergo stated, while Ed gave no definite reason. She told Ed to rise. "When you find what you're seeking, or when you find a reason to act, come and be my guardian."
Faris looked up at Leroy. "I'll have to... leave for my country soon." Leroy started and stared at her. "Back to Rivant? But why?"
"I felt my brother's prescense... he is alive and well, and he will be coming for me soon. Rohan will come to take me back to Rivant soon."
"I see... will I ever see you again...?"
"Hopefully so. Here," she handed him a pendant, and he took it, examining it carefully, and she laughed.
"It doesn't do anything! It's just... to remember me by."
"I'll always remember you," he said softly, wishing that he had brought something as well.
"You knew, didn't you? That if this conflict finished, you'd have to leave?"
"I did."
"I'll miss you Faris."
"I'll miss you too!" she hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, unwilling to let her go.
"Well, when I'm Fuhrer, there'll be plenty of time for us to meet, you know... as ambassadors of our countries."
"Yes!"
"And, and... you'll take me around Rivant, show me the towns and plains, the mountains, the rivers... you'll show me how the sky looks different."
"And you'll show me more of Amestris, the bigger cities, the sleepy little towns, the cities that never sleep, the deserts, the people, the... the... you'll show me the stars, won't you?"
"I'll show you the stars, the moon, and the sun. I'll show you the world, the world and more."
END OF HALFMETAL ALCHEMIST
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