Of Cats, Spirits, and Palm Trees

A Fullmetal Alchemist/Digimon: Elemental Mages Crossover

by Bridgitkiido

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. I also don't own Digimon. Kima and Bridgit, however, are two of my Mages, so I own them.

A Quick Note on the Timeline: I forgot to put this in the first chapter, but… This story takes place on the manga timeline of Fullmetal Alchemist, somewhere in or around chapter 34-ish. There will be spoilers up through there, which really only affects you if you don't know what happens to Hughes or who Ling is. On the Mages timeline, it can be placed really anywhere after chapter 11. Of course, it's not as though anyone cares or anything, but…

Chapter 2

Kima, meanwhile, was not the only one having difficulties.

There was a small graveyard on a hill surrounded by trees. The rain somehow managed to miss this area completely, or it might have possibly just passed over a while ago. The latter is probably more plausible, due to the excessive amount of dew on the grass. In front of one of the graves, a few red sparkles twinkled in the air, although most people didn't seem to notice that very much, as this being a graveyard, supernatural things were said to happen almost every day. Of course, most of these rumors were false, but the sparkles existing were particularly plausible, mostly due to the grave they stood in front of.

But then, Maes Hughes had not died a typical death.

The spiritually inclined might often see his spirit standing there, staring straight at his own grave stone. He was always wearing the same thing: a long brown cloak draped over his back, covering his uniform, that of a Lieutenant Colonel in the Amestris military. His grave said otherwise, but then he had only been promoted to Brigadier General for being, as they called it, killed in action.

Why he stood there, no one quite knew for sure. Some thought that he was waiting for someone and thus had not been able to pass on. Others thought that he had yet to come to terms with his own death. While the latter is probably more on the truthful side and the entire truth is probably quite interesting, this story is, unfortunately, not one to discuss Maes Hughes' feelings about his demise.

Which is why we now bring young Bridgit Kanara into the story.

It was not Bridgit's day. First, the one book in the entire library that looked even remotely interesting just had to contain a portal to another dimension or something. Or at least another time and/or place. Perhaps, she speculated, this entire incident could have been prevented had she not accidentally touched her necklace to the page, but that could hardly have been all of it. Second, she had awoken in this graveyard, Kima not in sight, but with a single shard of tiger-eye (obviously belonging to her sister) sitting nearby on the ground. So, Bridgit had to carry that shard around with her until she found Kima and could give it back to her. Third, said shard of tiger-eye was messing with Bridgit's own powers. It wasn't as though she couldn't use any of her powers or anything like that; however, her scrying was mucked up, so she couldn't divine Kima's exact position. Which was a big pain in the you-know-where. (She had, however, been able to determine that her little sister was in her Crystamon form and, quite obviously, unlikely to be able to transform back without this single important shard. Of all the shards it could have been…)

The graveyard was nearly empty on this overcast and almost raining day; however, Bridgit happened to notice a single man standing on the hill staring at a grave stone. Thinking that she could ask if he had seen a little white cat run by, she walked toward the man. "Excuse me, sir," she called. "Would you happen to have seen a little white cat run by?"

Maes looked up, slightly shaken. "You can see me?" he wondered aloud.

"Yes," Bridgit stated, slightly agitated but noticing that the man was, in fact, somewhat translucent. "I'm more or less clairvoyant, so I can see everything. And I can usually hear what I see, too, but that isn't of any importance."

Maes was slightly shaken. "I'm supposed to be dead, you know."

"Doesn't bother me. So, have you seen a little white cat run by?" She gestured appropriately as she described, "She's about yea tall by yea long, with a collar knit from rainbow-colored yarn and sprinkled with tiger-eye gems."

Maes thought for a moment, and then he said, "Actually, yes, I did. When I was walking around a bit earlier, I saw a cat just like that sitting in one of the alleys. I can show you where, if you want."

"Thank you, sir," Bridgit replied, smiling. "That's very kind of you."

"The name's Maes Hughes, by the way."

"And I'm Bridgit Kanara."

And so the two of them walked out of the graveyard toward where Maes had seen the cat.

Of course, as the two of them walked towards the place, they had to pass through the outskirts of Central. And, almost due to an associative property of sorts, this meant that the pair had to travel right past a certain small house where a little girl, no older than three and a half, was playing quietly in front. The rain had passed a little while ago in this area, but the little girl still wore a rain coat.

As Bridgit and Maes passed, Maes looked longingly towards that little house for a moment, but then he dropped his eyes and covered his head with his hood.

"What's wrong, Mr. Hughes?" Bridgit asked quietly as the man ducked into a corner. However, she shortly realized exactly what was going on when the little girl cried "DADDY!" and pounced in the general direction of where the pair had been.

Which, naturally, meant that Bridgit was knocked to the ground.

Gracia Hughes had been cooking dinner when she heard Bridgit's muffled cry of surprise outside. Suddenly taking more interest in what was happening outside than the pasta cooking on the stovetop, she rushed out the door only to find Elysia sitting, a confused expression on her face, on top of a brunette girl who was obviously not very accustomed to being in this position.

"Oh my," Gracia said as she ran down the steps and picked Elysia up. "I'm sorry," she told Bridgit with a quick bow of respect. "I don't know what got into my daughter."

"That's alright," Bridgit replied, getting up. "This happens all the time with my dog at home. No big deal."

"I'm still sorry, though." Gracia then turned towards her daughter. "What were you doing, Elysia?"

"I'm sorry," Elysia replied sadly. "I saw Daddy over there, but when I went over to go hug him, he wasn't there anymore and I instead knocked over this lady."

"What happened to him?" Bridgit asked, slightly intrigued.

"Well," Gracia replied sadly, "he was in the military, in the investigations department, but one night he went out to work and never came home. I discovered the next morning that he had been shot trying to call his superior."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Bridgit said quietly. "I know how it feels to have someone you care about pass away."

She cried and cried. "Why did it have to happen to you?" she asked rhetorically. "They were targeting me. Why did they do this to you?"

A gentle hand was placed upon her shoulder. "He's in a better place now, don't worry."

"No he's not," she replied loudly. "How can anywhere be better than here? I know he didn't want to be killed!"

"Now, honey," another voice said soothingly, "the coroner didn't find any proof that he was actually killed. According to his – "

"You weren't there!" she interrupted. "I saw it happen! I saw the knife. I saw the blood. I saw everything! And they were going after me next! They would have gotten me as well if Noriko hadn't called the police! And you say there isn't any proof?"

Bridgit shook herself. These were not memories she exactly wanted to recall. "Sorry, but I have to get going now. I have to find my sister."

"Sorry about everything," Gracia stated once again.

"That's alright," Bridgit replied, smiling as she walked off.

After Bridgit had left, Elysia turned to her mother. "I know I saw Daddy," she said earnestly. "I know I saw him, Mommy. I just know it!"

"Sweetie," Gracia started, tears welling up in her eyes just like whenever anyone else brought up her deceased husband.

"He's not gone, Mommy, I know I saw him! I did!" There was a sort of almost pleading in her voice. "He's still here! Why won't he come home, Mommy?"

"Elysia…"

Bridgit wandered farther down the street until she found Maes, who had been hiding in an alley. Tears were streaming down from his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Bridgit asked, concerned.

Maes wiped his eyes. "Yes, I'm fine. I just couldn't bear to see them right now. It's hard enough having to leave my family behind to begin with." He straightened his glasses. "But enough about that. Let's keep going. The alley where I saw your cat is just up ahead."

Author's Note: As I thought… not very popular at all… oh well, I want to get this down, so even if no one else reads this, I'm writing it so that I can get it down. Besides, anyone who does read this will notice that it will both tie in with Excessive Pride and give sneak previews for Digimon: Elemental Mages not available anywhere else. Not that anyone actually cares or anything, after all, this story's received all of 9 page views so far, but… if you have bothered to read this, could you please leave a review? Even a short little note saying "Good Job" or "I hate it" works.