Welcome to the last chapter of my initial burst! I'm going to give it a little time, see how it goes, and then assess whether or not I should continue to post this, based on the reception I get. This is crossposted to AO3 as well, so if it's doing all right there I'll probably keep crossposting it. So please let me know what you think so far! I would love to get feedback! As I stated before, this is going to be over 400k words, at current estimation, which means there's a LOT more story to tell if you'd like. Thank you so much for checking this out, and I hope you enjoy this last little chapter before the oncoming time jump!


"Lissa! Lissa! Wake up!"

She jolted upright to the acrid stench of smoke, and Alphonse above her shaking her frantically. "What the hell's going on?" she gasped, rolling out of bed.

"The inn's on fire! We gotta go!" Al yelled. He grabbed her by the arm, and her backpack with his other arm, and all but dragged her from the room. Lissa raced after him, coughing on the smoke, her eyes watering too much to see. Without Al, she didn't think she could've made it out, not without him guiding her. Thankfully he wasn't affected by the elements in the air.

They burst out the front of the inn, among a bunch of other patrons—and Halling and his wife at the middle, both frantic and yelling.

Lissa rushed up to them. "Mr. Halling, what's going on?" she asked him urgently.

He gave her a panicked look, and she noticed he was crying. "It's Khayal! We can't find him anywhere!"

Khayal?!

Oh, no.

Lissa turned and looked up at the building, trying to sense the elements, working both her alchemical senses and that other one, the deeper one, her eyes closed as she focused. Fire…and smoke, all the burned bits of wood… Carbon, monoxide and dioxide… And… There's something else… I sense…salt… Salt is fear. It has to be.

"He's still in there," she breathed.

Lissa stripped out of her jacket and tossed it into the dirt, leaving herself in her pink-purple tank top and bare-armed. She squared her shoulders, took a breath—and ran right back inside.

"Lissa! Stop it, don't go in there!"

The air inside the inn was blistering hot, wind whipping her hair into her eyes, but she didn't need to see now. Lissa could feel instead. She felt all the elements against her skin, the gases and particles in the air, rushing all around her… Blue energy crackled around her hands and up her arms as she harnessed the elements, gathering the smoke and heat and pressing it down, down, trying to smother the fire and make a path.

"Khayal!" she yelled, ducking forward through a half-collapsed doorway. "Follow my voice!"

Lissa heard a thump—then cried out as Khayal tumbled down the stairs and landed square in her chest. She rolled him off and focused her energy again, this time pushing the foreign particles out and up the stairwell, their natural path. Then she grabbed Khayal by the back of his shirt and hauled him up. "Come on, grab onto me and don't let go!" she ordered. He latched onto the back of her shirt immediately, mercifully leaving her arms free, and therefore her alchemy available.

She sensed the falling beam just before it hit her—Lissa shoved backwards, out of its path, feeling Khayal stumble behind her, though he didn't fall.

I have to move this, she realized. Move it or—reconstruct it!

Lissa knew the beam was still smoldering, so she compressed the air around it until she had put out a small section of the fire—then, squinting through the smoke, she rammed her hands down onto the beam and focused hard. She had to find the spaces between the atoms, just like she'd done with her uniforms, and expand them until…

The beam disintegrated beneath her hands.

"Miss Lissa!" Khayal yelped, panicked. "The ceiling is gonna come down!"

"Hold your breath!" she snapped. There was no more time left. She grabbed onto his forearm with her left hand, and stuck her right one forward—one would have to be enough. Lissa summoned up all her energy and forced every bit of air out of the path before them, all the way to the door. She didn't have time to suck in a breath of her own, so she just ran with starving lungs, dragging Khayal behind her, as the building began to collapse all around them.

Lissa tumbled down the stairs at the front, losing her grip on Khayal as she fell, and rolled to a stop in the middle of the street. She coughed and sucked in a deep, greedy breath, her lungs burning with all the foreign particles she'd inhaled.

"You idiot!" That was Al, grabbing her up and rolling her onto her back. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

She put both hands on her own chest, let that blue energy gather—and breathed out, hard, as she loosened all the foreign particles and expelled them from her own lungs. "I know," she panted, finally breathing clear air again. "But—intangibles, Al. Remember? I was the only one who could've done it."

He seemed to be glaring at her, from what she could see. "That was reckless!" he told her sharply. "You need to be more careful next time! And…" Al sort of wilted a bit. "Don't do things alone, okay?"

Lissa reached up and pressed a hand to his chest. "Okay. I'm sorry, Al." She pushed up on her elbows and looked around, anxious. "Is Khayal all right?"

"He's fine," Al confirmed softly, pointing to her left. She followed his finger to see Khayal with his family, his dad embracing him tightly and his mother crying at their side. Good. So she'd done it, she'd actually saved him.

She grabbed onto Al's shoulder and pulled to her feet, and made her way over to join them. "Here," she murmured, as Khayal coughed deeply. "You inhaled a lot of horrible stuff from that fire… Let me help you." Lissa knelt and put her hands to his chest, focusing just like she'd done for herself—the particles were easy to spot among the tissue and blood and oxygen that belonged, so she loosened them and urged them out as he coughed again, until finally his lungs were clear.

"Thank you," Halling told her in a tight, emotional voice. "You saved our son."

Lissa took Al's proffered hand and got back to her feet, suddenly uncomfortable with the gratitude. "It's what alchemists are supposed to do," she whispered. "Help people."

By morning, the fire had burned itself out, and Lissa had tuned into the fact that she'd sustained a few burns from the whole ordeal—nothing too serious, but it stung and ached, especially one on her right leg. That one was pretty bad. She sat opposite the burned-down inn just as light crept through the down and cut away part of her pants leg to reveal the injury, and then bound it up as best she could.

"Al? Lissa?"

She looked up from where she'd been leaning against Al's arm to see Ed walking up, looking confused and angry. Lissa just lifted a hand to wave at him. "I guess you had a better night than us," she observed softly.

He scowled and knelt one step down from her, examining her leg. "You're hurt. What was this, did Yoki's men burn this place down?"

"It had to be," Alphonse asserted. "I heard some of the miners talking earlier, they said they saw some of Yoki's men lurking around here last night, just before the fire started. Lissa and I got out fine, but…once we got outside, we found out that Khayal, Mr. Halling's son, was still inside. So Lissa ran back in and got him out."

Lissa stuck her tongue out at him. "Thanks for covering for me."

Ed stared at her in shock. "You ran into a burning building?! What the hell, Lissa? Why would you do something that stupid?!"

"Intangibles," she snapped at him, angry. "Or did you forget? That kid would've died if I didn't go back! If I have to be a state alchemist, I'd rather be the kind that shirks the system and helps people, not the kind that turns their back and walks away!"

He grabbed her shoulders and leaned up, right in her face as he growled, "There's a big difference between helping people and throwing your life away!"

"Is there?" Lissa shot back. "Not last night, there wasn't. And where were you, huh? Holed up in that ass Yoki's huge mansion in some expensive bed, weren't you?" She pushed him away and got to her feet, limping down the steps just to put some distance between them. "You have no right to treat me like that, like I'm—like I'm some stupid kid who doesn't understand how the world works! I know the value of a life, Ed! I know how much it hurts to lose someone!"

Ed stood up and stared at her, not angry anymore… Just looking ashamed. "I—Liss, I didn't mean…"

"Just—don't," she told him harshly. "I need a minute."

Lissa stalked away as Khayal ran up to Edward and began begging him for something. It took her a moment of slow walking to realize he was asking Ed to transmute gold for them—the one thing an alchemist was known for, yet never allowed to do. It wasn't as taboo as human transmutation, but it was just as illegal. She knew he'd never do it. He'd already given up.

She pinched the skin on the back of her hand to keep from crying, and didn't stop walking.

Lissa was sitting on the edge of town, out in the railyard with her legs dangling off a platform, when the boys found her. She knew it was them by the telltale clank of Al's steps, though he wasn't the one who approached her—Ed did, sitting down beside her and resting his arms on the same railing as her. "What do you want?" she asked him sullenly.

He sighed deeply, seeming…sad, almost. "I didn't realize you were thinking of your parents," Ed admitted softly. "That was stupid of me. I'm sorry I yelled at you—I was just…really worried, and I guess I'm not always the best at showing it, huh?" He paused like he was waiting for a reply, but she didn't think she had anything to say to him yet. So after a moment, he went on anyway. "And you're right, I was treating you like a kid. I'm sorry for that too. You aren't a kid any more than Al and I are. I'm just so used to people not understanding what it's like…that I just…lost my head." He touched her shoulder lightly. "You did the right thing. The dangerous thing, yeah, maybe a bit stupid, but… It was still the right thing to do."

"You think so?" she asked quietly, finally finding it in herself to look at him. "I didn't even think about it… I just ran in. It didn't matter if I thought I could do it or not."

Ed grinned faintly. "You're just as reckless as me." He twisted his mouth into a grimace then. "What you said back there…about being a state alchemist that shirks the system and actually helps people instead of walking away…"

"I was talking about you," Lissa admitted, twisting her fingers into her shirt nervously. "A-at…Mr. Tucker's house… I remember you getting so, so angry when he thought he'd still be a state alchemist. Because the things he did…that went against everything we thought being a state alchemist was about. But I wondered, ever since that night, if he would've actually had his title taken if he hadn't been…killed. Maybe not. The way these people view state alchemists, maybe there's even more like Tucker, maybe it's weird to be a state alchemist who actually cares about the people…" She suddenly reached out and grabbed both of Ed's hands, gripping down tightly and staring right into his golden eyes. "But that's the kind I want to be. And I thought…that's what you wanted too."

He nodded firmly. "It is. I might be one of the military's dogs, but that doesn't mean I have to fall into line like everybody else does. I don't want to. These people… They acted like having a state alchemist come here was the worst thing ever. I wanna show them differently. Don't you?" Ed got to his feet and pulled Lissa up with him, grinning now, his eyes alight. "I've got a plan, Liss. But I need yours and Al's help to pull it off. Are you with me?"

Lissa laughed and punched his flesh arm, making him wince just a bit. "Are you kidding? I was waiting for you to get your act together, dummy. What do you have in mind?"

He slung his arm over her shoulders and smirked. "Oh, just a little forbidden alchemy… And a little double-crossing while we're at it. With a sprinkle of deceit."

"Sounds perfect."

It didn't take long to explain the plan—or to set it in motion. Lissa and Alphonse kept guard while Ed did the dirty work, expressing that it was his own plan and he wouldn't involve them that far in it, and then it was a simple matter of transmuting a few wheelbarrows from the scrap around the railyard to cart their bounty up the hill to Yoki's mansion.

Lissa couldn't hide her grin as they arranged everything, her heart just so alight with the good behind the plan. "See, this is the state alchemist I signed on to apprentice with," she told Ed teasingly, tugging at his braid. "Not the idiot who treats me like a kid. I mean, I am taller than you."

"Wha—hey, you are not!" he protested, gaping at her.

Al peered at them thoughtfully. "Actually, brother…she is taller than you. By a few inches at least."

Ed wilted right there, dropping to his knees and whining something incoherent.

Lissa nudged him with her foot. "C'mon, dummy, get up. I hear Yoki coming. Is everything set up?"

He popped right back up and nodded. "It's all in place. Let's do this." Ed pushed through the next set of doors and waved his hand at Yoki, who looked up from his lunch in surprise. "Hello again, Lieutenant," Ed greeted brightly. "So, last night, I had a great idea for a business proposition. I want you to sell me the mines."

Yoki stood up rather shakily from his table and crossed, his eyes darting around almost like a nervous tic. "Eh…excuse me?"

Edward crossed his arms and grinned. "I said, I would like you to sell me the deed to the coal mines. And all the businesses, surrounding trade routes, the town, et cetera." He jerked a thumb behind him, pointing out the piles and piles of gleaming gold bars the three had hauled up before. "I've already got the payment all worked out."

The three soldiers stepped into the room, all various degrees of shocked and awed. They'd probably never seen so much gold in their lives.

"Unless this isn't enough?" Ed prompted.

Yoki rounded on him. "Don't—don't be absurd, this is—quite satisfactory, indeed! Is it…is it all real gold?" he confirmed, sounding like he might drool at any moment.

Ed scoffed. "Of course. What kinda second-rate alchemist do you take me for, Lieutenant? See, as it turns out, the mine is actually full of all kinds of minerals that would be very useful in my alchemical research. I'd hate to miss out on the opportunity. But…if this place isn't actually on the market…"

The Lieutenant let out a nervous sort of twitter-laugh. "Oh, now let's not be so hasty… Of course it's for sale, Mr. Elric."

Lissa smiled benignly. "Actually, the proper rank would be Major, the same as all state alchemists." That was just for fun—Ed never went by a military rank.

Yoki squeaked and bobbed his head urgently. "Yes, of course, my apologies, Major Elric!" He cast another longing look over at the gold bars. "Though—it may look a bit…unseemly, selling the mine for my own personal gain… It was entrusted to me by the state, after all."

"Right," Ed laughed. "Well, and transmuting gold is pretty seriously illegal, after all… I'm happy to keep this all off the books, if you'd like. You can just officially write in that this was all transferred over free of charge. The gold is just…an unrelated gift, then. That way, no one will ask any questions. And I'll be sure to put in a good word for you too, when we return to Central."

"W-well, if you're quite sure…" Yoki's eyes gleamed—then he snapped his fingers at one of his guards. "I'll write up the papers straightaway."

Ed inclined his head. "Thank you very much for your business, First Lieutenant Yoki."

The whole transaction took only a few minutes—Yoki had the papers written up, Edward signed them, and then tucked them away inside his coat for safekeeping. Then, just before turning to go, he snapped his fingers and turned back to Yoki. "Oh, First Lieutenant, we left some bags out by the back door you can use to store the gold. I transmuted them myself. They'll keep it nice and safe."

Yoki nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course. How very thoughtful of you, sir." He grinned, a slimy sort of thing that made Lissa's skin crawl. "Goodbye, then."

"Goodbye!"

When Yoki and his guards were gone, Ed turned and shut the doors to the antechamber immediately. "Right," he murmured. Then he clapped his hands, and quickly transmuted all the gold back into rocks. A handful of gold coins—Yoki's bribe from earlier—clattered to the ground, which he swept up and tossed to Lissa for safekeeping.

She tucked them into her backpack and smirked. "Let's go. Before the idiot realizes we duped him."

They hurried from the mansion and back into town, searching out their next target—Halling and the other miners. With Halling's inn gone, the coal miners had congregated in a nearby basement, which the three found only by listening for angry yelling.

"Be careful," Lissa warned Ed as he approached the door. "They'll still be angry."

He just winked at her and burst through the door. "Hello, everyone!" Ed greeted brightly, waving. "Don't you all seem gloomy, huh? Let's see if I can't help with that." He strolled right in, Lissa and Al following, as though he owned the place.

Though…he kind of did, actually.

"What are you doing here?" Halling demanded sharply.

Khayal glared across at them too. "You leech! What do you want from us?"

Ed just grinned and wagged a finger at him. "Come on, is that any way to talk to your new landlord, boss, and all-around overseer?"

One of the other miners shot to his feet at that. "Overseer?! What the hell are you talking about, you dumb kid?"

Ed just withdrew the papers he'd been given by Yoki and brandished them at the man.

"What… It can't be! This is…the titles to everything!" the miner breathed, taking a step back in shock.

"Yup! That's right." Ed turned to display the papers to the rest of the room. "The deeds, titles, management, ownership, et cetera et cetera, to everything here in Youswell. Including the surrounding trade routes." He smirked at Halling. "See the signature? It says Edward Elric. And last time I checked, that meant me."

There was a sort of collective shocked-angry gasp, and Lissa grinned to herself, leaning against the doorway. "It's gonna be pretty boring being stuck here, isn't it, Ed?"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," he agreed. "We're very busy, you see, and we spend most of our time traveling from place to place… So being tied down all the way out here just…doesn't suit our lifestyle, if you understand me. Owning all this would just be a nuisance."

Halling rose from his table and glared at him, not catching on just yet. "So you're saying you want to sell this back to us, then," he growled. "For a profit."

Ed smirked. "You know it. And the price is pretty steep, too. After all… I don't get deeds to whole towns very often, so I gotta get what I can from you folks." His smirk turned into more of a devious sort of grin as he mimicked Halling's words from the night before. "That's just business, I'm afraid."

"Is that so?" Halling asked rather darkly, crossing his arms. "How much?"

"Hm, well… Considering the nature of the deeds themselves… I mean, this is vellum embossed in gold, that alone is worth… And it comes stored in a box carved in jade, with silver embellishments and even a solid silver key, too… Now, I'm no expert at valuing items, but if you ask me, all this is worth…" Edward beamed at him. "One night's stay at your inn, plus meals. I mean, that alone was valued at two hundred thousand. Sound about right to you?"

The miners stared at him in shock. "Did he just say-"

"I think so!"

"-but then that would mean-"

Halling took a step towards Ed, still looking unsure. "But our inn was destroyed. We have nowhere to put you."

"Oh, is that all?" Ed laughed. "Well, as your current landlord, I guess it's sort of my job to fix this place up, don't you think? It's a good thing I have two other alchemists here to give me a hand." He looked between Lissa and Al expectantly. "What do you say? Think we can handle the job, between the three of us?"

Al nodded easily. "Of course. It'll be easy."

With the miners following in shock, the three trooped outside and set themselves at three points around the burned-down inn. Before taking all the gold up to Yoki, they'd snuck back in and placed tons of raw materials in the ruins of the inn, taken from scraps out in the railyard. Between their three skillsets, they'd found more than enough to put the building right again, and maybe even better, judging by what they had.

Lissa sketched her transmutation circle by hand, using a stick to scratch it through the dirt. They'd already discussed this earlier—her part of the transmutation was deconstructing and removing anything that couldn't be used. The boys were in charge of most of the reconstruction, working around hers.

It was…like nothing she'd ever done before. Lissa had never used alchemy this way, as a team, in conjunction with other people. The lessons she'd gone through had never suggested it. But she guessed Edward and Alphonse had been doing this kind of thing for years, working together like this… They wouldn't even know it was unusual. And if it had been their own thing before…then letting her be part of it was a really, really big deal and she hadn't even realized until then.

When they were finished, and the inn was put together again, Lissa found herself struggling not to cry. She'd never felt so much a part of anything as she did working a transmutation with Ed and Al.

"Liss?" Ed stepped around the corner and smiled at her softly. "You okay?"

She nodded quickly. "Yeah, 'course I am."

They joined Al at the front of the rebuilt inn and went inside to see Halling and his family staring around themselves in shock, along with what looked like most of the town, to be honest. Lissa stood close to the boys and waited for the reactions she knew were coming.

"That was amazing!" Khayal gushed, running over to them. "Thank you so much!"

Ed waved him off. "Nah, that's just alchemy. No big deal." He looked over at Halling and grinned, reaching into his cloak and pulling out the set of papers from Yoki. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot. Here." He passed them over into the man's hand easily. "I signed it over and everything, so it's official. Congratulations on your purchase!"

Lissa smirked down at Khayal. "Still think all state alchemists are terrible?"

The boy winced and rubbed at the back of his head. "Well…I guess not all of them are completely terrible…"

"Wh-what's going on here?!"

Lissa turned, smirking, as Yoki and his guards raced in through the door of the establishment. This was gonna be good.

"Oh!" Edward turned and flashed a grin at him. "Hello, First Lieutenant. Funny you should stop by—I just sold the deed to all of Youswell to this man here, Mr. Halling. You two know each other, right?"

Yoki looked ready to argue that—but then he grumbled to himself and snapped, "Never mind that! What about this?" He jammed a hand into his pocket angrily, and withdrew a handful of rocks and coal, which he shoved almost all the way under Edward's nose in his rage. "All the gold bars you gave me turned into stone! Why did this happen? Explain yourself!"

Ed looked at him in exaggerated confusion. "Gold bars? I don't know anything about gold bars, sorry."

The Lieutenant let out an undignified screech. "You little liar! Don't play dumb with me, boy! We traded the deeds to Youswell for a mountain of gold bars! It happened just now, up in my mansion! This is fraud, I tell you!"

"Fraud? But…" Ed smiled up at Halling. "Can I see that top sheet for a moment?"

Halling smirked. "Sure thing."

Ed took the sheet and held it out for Yoki to check himself. "See? Right there, it says that ownership was handed over free of charge. Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about, Lieutenant." He passed the paper back and shrugged faintly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can't help you, besides. I already signed over ownership."

"Why you little…" Yoki snapped his fingers, and one of his guards grabbed Ed by the front of his shirt and hauled him off his feet.

Al took a single, menacing step towards him. "Put my brother down. Now."

Even as the guard obeyed and shifted back in fear, Yoki still tried to regain control of the situation. "No! This transaction is invalid! I won't allow this! You're a child, and a mere child cannot possibly be a landowner!"

"But he isn't," Lissa pointed out innocently.

One of the bigger miners in the room caught her drift and grinned, standing up and ramming one fist into his opposite palm. "Yeah. We are." He stepped forward and loomed over Yoki and his guards threateningly. "This is private property now, Yoki."

"S-silence!" Yoki stuttered, looking around in a sort of panic as he realized he was outnumbered. "If you don't want to get hurt, then hurry up and h-"

"I wouldn't underestimate the strength of coal miners, Lieutenant," Halling spoke up. As he got to his feet, most of the other miners in the room did so too, some wielding pickaxes and shovels, others just cracking knuckles and brandishing their own bare hands. Lissa didn't envy Yoki and his men—she'd be terrified to be on the other end of all that aggression, even as an alchemist.

Ed moved back and stood between Lissa and Alphonse, grinning as the coal miners moved in. "Oh, and one more thing, First Lieutenant… I'll be sure to inform my superiors of your incompetence running this town."

Lissa laughed and tugged on the sleeve of Ed's coat. "Come on. I'm hungry, we haven't gotten to eat since yesterday. Let's see if Mr. Halling can clear us a space while the others deal with Yoki." She realized as she grabbed his hand that she'd gotten the automail, but she didn't mind—she just tugged him along behind her, and took Al's hand too, not wanting to get caught up in the well-deserved punishment being enacted behind them.

By the end of the evening, Lissa was stuffed. In celebration of their newfound control, the miners had broken out all the food they could find—within reason—and because the miners still assumed Al needed a portion, she and Ed had shared the excess between them. Now she felt like she couldn't even get up from the table.

The bar had long since emptied out. Even Halling and his family had gone to bed, leaving a room key with Lissa and locking up the front, giving the three a little privacy downstairs. She smiled to herself and peered around the table, at where Ed had settled onto the floor a bit ago, when he thought the table had gotten too messy for eating. He was passed out down there, his left hand resting on his exposed tummy, sleeping with his head resting on what looked like a loaf of bread.

"Dummy," she giggled to herself.

Al stepped back into the room and surveyed the damage. He'd been kind enough to take some of the trash out, though Halling had assured them not to worry about anything. "Oh, man," he muttered. "This place is a mess. And look at brother, sleeping like that…" He sighed. "He's so embarrassing."

Lissa grinned at him. "You sound like the older brother, Al."

He laughed and nodded, not bothering to deny it. "Sometimes I feel like the older brother. Even though Ed's always looking after people, he forgets to look after himself most of the time… Like last night, when he made sure we'd have a place to stay. I mean, I'm just a suit of armor and I can't sleep anyway, I would've been fine. But he put himself out instead. He hates to let anybody else suffer, but he'd probably forget to feed himself most days if we didn't look out for him."

She got up from the table and crossed to Ed, lifting his hand and tugging his shirt down for him. "I worry about him, Alphonse. I'm afraid if he had to do any of this alone…"

"But he doesn't." Al rested a hand on her shoulder and looked down at her, and she got the feeling he was smiling. "He's got us, right? And we won't let brother have to handle things by himself, will we?"

Lissa beamed up at him in return. "You're right. We won't."