DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FULL METAL ALCHEMIST...THE ENTIRE PACKAGE TO IT. I do own my original characters, plot, and ALL of the flames you see in my review section...sadly.
A/N: Here's part 2, to Chapter 8. Funny, the more I think about the chapter title, the more I realize it barely relates to ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS. Well, I'm referring to the Philosopher's Stone. In case you're wondering.
Chapter 8: Existing Beyond Myth
"Ah, we're all together," Colonel Roy Mustang's folded hands and crisp uniform bent slightly over the rather large wooden desk. "I think we should dive right into this, considering you're all dying to hear it," he began to tell them, as they seated themselves (besides Al who chose to stand) in the large maroon chairs.
"Due to a slight accident, Kiara already knows half our story," Ed seemed annoyed, his eyes moving skyward.
She was quiet for a moment. Really, was it any place for her to talk about it? Kiara knew there had to be deeper scars, and felt a bit…well, angry too. She was upset that their secret could be given away and hers still got to stay locked up.
"Well, that puts a fast forward on this," Mustang broke into her thoughts. "What does she know?"
"Al's body isn't real," Ed explained hastily, pulling a hand in Al's direction also.
"That's it?"
"Yeah, so?"
"You have to tell her the rest."
Everyone was quiet.
"Really, they don't—"
"Yes they do," Mustang interrupted Kiara's sentence firmly.
"Alright," Al finally spoke in, after no one could manage to push it any further. "We'll tell her what happened."
And so the Elric brother's secret was revealed. How after losing their mother, and not having a father, they tried the forbidden alchemic science of human transmutation to revive her. How it backfired, Al's body was lost, and Ed lost his left leg. In order to bring his only family left back, Ed sacrificed his right arm and bonded Al's soul to a large suit of armor. Then, to finish of the cake, they iced it with their journey to become State Alchemists and their search for the Philosopher's Stone.
"Nevina? Nevina, you have to say something now," Mustang pulled her out of the trance, but didn't get her to open her mouth.
All of that. Wow. How had Kiara been so stupid to not try and put more together when she was with the Elric brothers? How come she had never taken the time to actually look at them closely? And she liked to call herself an alchemist…when really, she couldn't observe less than anything now.
Then there was the ever pressing fact of all they had witnessed and gone through. That was enough to want to make Kiara slap herself in the face.
I didn't use to act so…stupid, she finally realized, never responding to Mustang's comment. I never used to be so obsessed with myself. God, no wonder they—
"Kiara-kun?" Al's soft voice slid into her thoughts.
She looked up, and caught a second glance of Mustang's puzzled face, probably from hearing Al's way of addressing her for the first time.
"What does this have to do with me?" she finally asked. "I mean, that's horrible and all," she added quickly, eyeing them cautiously for a moment. "It's just, this really isn't my business at all."
"I told you," Ed pointed a finger at Mustang, a triumphant look bestowing across his face. "She has no connections to helping us find the Philosopher's Stone," he smirked.
Bingo. Kiara finally had everything click right into place, after a week of frustrated thinking and dead conclusions. Now that she had the whole story, a new one just began.
"It is your business," he completely ignored Ed, looking right into her eyes. "Do you get me, Nevina?" he kept staring her down, a straightforward sign that somehow only the two of them were using to their advantage.
Kiara growled. "You little…" she bit her tongue. "You know more than I thought, didn't you?" she snapped.
"Quiet a lot, thanks to a little more digging and investigating," he replied calmly.
"So you just had me sit here, and if you found anything, you wouldn't have to tie me down?" she finally summed up Mustang's planning.
He had kept her here for two weeks, making her think in a jumbled mess of confusion and anger. When really, he was just going to investigate in a strong feeling he had, and if he was right, he would already have her right here. Why was he so good at luring people in like that?
The flicker of an innocent smile played at his lips for only a moment, and Mustang pushed it down before anyone could notice the curling of his mouth. Picking his folded hands up off the desk, he propped his elbows against the wood and folded his hands again like he had done when they had walked in, and shifted slightly in his seat. He was trying to get more comfortable, considering he liked to watch Kiara sit dumbfounded and do nothing about it. Not that he loved a person's pain, but her expressions were the most amusing.
"What ever you mean by that, I don't know," he lied so smooth it could break ice. "But I do find this quite convenient on both our hands. Then again, nothing can be done unless you agree to a few conditions."
"Hate to break your weird moment, but what are you two talking about?" Ed's irritated behavior rose again, breaking their hold on each other.
"Wait a second," Kiara threw at him carelessly, then dove straight back into her and Mustang's discussion. "What are they?"
"Not until you tell them what's going on," he pointed a thumb at the two boys still waiting in the room.
Kiara's left eye gave a twitch of aggravation. Roy Mustang was as good as he ever was. She swung around in her seat so she could look directly as Al behind his brother and Ed slightly to the left.
"When I was in the military, I was the Entity Alchemist," she began. "I knew a lot about studying life."
"Wait, doesn't that make her like Shou Tucker?" Ed cut in quickly.
Kiara laughed. "No way, I've never made a chimera in my life!" she chuckled. "I never really made anything, so I guess that was one of the reasons my license was revoked," she shrugged. "I studied variant life forms, I made sense of things that a lot of people thought were confusing," she clarified her words from earlier.
"I…well, let's just say I was pulled into alchemy through family matters too," Kiara lightly touched on her past. "And during my time as the Entity Alchemist, I was forced by my family to hit on subjects I really could care less on," she began to explain. "Think of it as me being a doctor in a special field, you could say. I ranged from what the components are to a human being, to philosophy on why were made and here. I was scientific and psychological."
"So this means…?" Ed asked after a few seconds of silence.
"What do those two things fall into the most?"
"Transmutation of life," Al easily answered.
"Yes. I may not study it now, and I may not be able to teach you more about it—"
"We don't want to be taught more about it," Ed finished her off, crossing his arms.
She sighed, and tried to restart her statement. "Exactly. I'm here to give you connections. I have a lot of them," she finally got the rest of it out, then looked to Mustang one more time. "Is that right? Am I good?" she asked him.
He nodded an approval, and she slumped a bit lower in her chair.
"Are you two up to it?"
They were quiet for a moment, until Al finally spoke up.
"Can we have time to think about it?" he asked.
"Yes, I need to tell Nevina a few things first, even if you decide," Mustang replied.
Everyone gave Kiara a glance.
"I couldn't get out of this even if I wanted to," she shrugged, making sure to give Mustang a very deep glare. "I'm going to get pulled around no matter what you two decided on," she shook her head innocently.
"How long would we have to work with her?" Ed asked.
He seemed very interested in what Kiara had suddenly offered, finally.
"Depends on how long it will take," Mustang gave an empty response.
"About one or two months," Kiara summed up. "If you want to, that is," she added.
Edward went into a train of thought Kiara saw every now and then, when he really had to think something over. Somehow, this offer didn't seem so bad, after she had probably killed all chances of them catching up where they last left off. And if her plans ran into a dead end, then he figured they could always come back to where they were. Hopefully, that wouldn't be the case.
"Give us a day to think it over," Ed never looked up from the spot on the floor he'd been staring at. "There's a few things I want go over with Al first," and when he said that, everyone knew he wanted to talk privately with his brother instead of in front of them.
"Very well, a day then," Mustang agreed, nodding and sliding back in his chair. "You two can leave now, or stay. I'm just going to touch base on a few things here with Nevina," he glanced back over to Kiara, who had become suddenly interested in staring blankly at the wall and hushing up.
Ed looked back to Al, they exchanged a look, a nod of the head, and both got up and out of the room after uttering their good-byes.
"What is it now?" Mustang's cool tone crossed dangerously with getting annoyed on his own terms.
He didn't just have extra free time to waste, you know, and all this pulling together was costing him plenty of it. Edward owed him big this time, and he'd make sure he wouldn't forget it.
"Huh?" Kiara replied blankly.
"Are you… alright?" he found it to be rather odd coming from his mouth, but forced it to push out.
"Yeah, yeah," she shook the thoughts from her head. "Just thinking. They went through a lot, didn't they?"
He gave a simple nod of the head.
"I hope I can help them."
They shared a quick silence following, for respect, of course. Truthfully, Roy Mustang never thought he'd hear Kiara in such a mood as they were in today. She had become unusually understanding and careful. He was glad though, that she had seen the finer side to the Elric's troublesome past. For the better, it made an understanding that maybe she too had something happen to her. All the closer he could get to the truth about Kiara Nevina, Mustang would take it.
"What are these exceptions I hear about?" Kiara finally said.
"Well, first off, you'd have to do this volunteer."
"Check."
"Then, I'm going to need to keep you in very low profile. Technically, I should have you back under watch's eye by now," he began to explain.
"Am I going to need to do anything?" she inquired.
"For the most part, I'll have someone take care of it. Just don't use that mouth of yours the wrong way," he made Kiara smirk.
"OK, I got you," she rolled her eyes playfully, still smiling. "What are the others?"
"I can't take part in any health issues or anything along the lines of those, as you already know, and your own pocket will have to be dipped into for money, unless the Elrics decided to pay for you, which I highly doubt. And I'm going to need you, on a moral basis, to give them everything you know. Even if it involves revealing a bit of yourself."
"I think I can make the decisions on that."
"I high recommend you to follow those specific directions. Those young boys aren't stupid, so you better watch yourself. And lastly, I'm going to have to ask you to dig more into the Kong and your father deal. I sense a strong lead going directly to the both of them."
"I immediately thought of that one first, sir," she threw on the extra word for the hell of it, being in a rather good mood by the standards of talking to him in the first place.
"Good, but all of the personal problems about it are going to either have to go away or be solved on your own time," he stated. "Other than that, I hope you are more of a help than a burden in their search."
"Ha, ha," Kiara replied sarcastically, prying herself from the chair. "But all of this is only if they agree on working with me."
"That shouldn't be much of a problem," he smirked very humbly.
"Well, I guess in the twisted world of the twilight zone, I'm going to thank you, Colonel Roy Mustang."
"Always a pleasure, Kiara Nevina."
It was going to be a bumpy ride.
I HOPED YOU LIKED. This is sorta a start of Kiara's changing personality, but very little. And yes, I DID plan on changing her attitude way before I got a shit load of flame mails, but they have simply pressed on me to make the change quicker, and that's all.
PLEASY PLEASY REVIEW. I'M USED TO THE HATE ONES BY NOW TOO. GOOD ONES WANTED THOUGH.
