The Golden Sun: Chapter Twenty: Powder Keg
AN: There's a lot of stuff going down at the same time, its kinda the big hump to get over in the next few chapters :) There was some confusion about Riza and Roy forgetting about Trisha, but the memory Roy recalls was the first and only time he saw her and he didn't even get a name and after the war, all the Ishvalans tended to blur together in his nightmares.
"Young lord, wake up!"
"Five more minutes," Ling muttered, rolling over in the bed, but the grip on his arm was tight, wrenching him back and Ling's eyes startled open to see Fu standing at his bedside, his mask tilted up so that Ling could see Fu's serious and pale face. "Fu? What—"
"Get up," Fu commanded harshly, "pack what you need, young lord, nothing more."
"Fu!" Ling sat up quickly. "What's happened?"
A muscle jumped in Fu's jaw. "The Emperor is dead."
The air seemed to freeze around them both as Ling gaped at his bodyguard, more awake than he'd ever been before. It was true that there was no love lost between him and his father, and the same could be said about his respective half-siblings; the Emperor had given no reason for any of his still-living children to love him. The number had dwindling down to seventeen sons and eleven daughters.
He'd been in poor health, that had been known, with his physicians seeking anything that could heal him and Ling had thought privately 'why bother?' but maybe that was just him being angry and bitter, especially about the attempted murder of his soulmate.
And Edward was worth all the trouble in the world.
"Murdered," Fu added when Ling didn't move, "killing by Xing Ying."
"He -what?" If Ling hadn't been gaping already, he would've been at that. Xing Ying might've played a hand in killing many of Ling's siblings, if not himself, but he didn't think he had it in him to actually kill anyone, much less the Emperor.
"Pack, Ling!" And that scared Ling more, because he couldn't remember the last time that Fu had used his actual name, preferring to call him only by 'young lord'. It was a way to remove himself and Ling could still remember his mother with her warm smile, telling Fu that one day he'd slip up and call her son by the right name.
This wasn't the kind of situation where Ling would've wanted Fu to slip up. "Pack? For what? To go where?"
"We're leaving Xing," he said sharply, realizing Ling was taking too long and taking it upon him to pull Ling's simplest outfits from the closet, completely bypassing the traditional garb that was saved for special occasions, throwing some clothes at Ling to change into.
"What, why?" The idea of leaving his home country terrified Ling. Of course, he'd made the trek to Amestris with Fu to retrieve Lanfan, and he couldn't say that he had been disappointed to meet Edward, Edward was…tongue-tyingly enthralling. But not even wanting to see him again could make Ling pause.
But the large explosion that rocketed into the air could.
Ling jolted where he was, shooting out of bed to the window, seeing the plumes of smoke and fire rising up into the sky, but Fu pulled him away from the window. "Get dressed, Ling, now."
There was a question on Ling's tongue that was the first thing to be thought of in a situation like this and that was: Where the hell was Lanfan?
Lanfan knew the plan, she always knew the plan. She was the bodyguard to a prince and it was her sworn duty to protect him even at the cost of her own life.
Her grandfather had sat her down soon after their return from Amestris to amend their contingencies. She'd always known that Xing was a particularly volatile place to live in, like a powder keg that was waiting to explode. Assassinations of the Emperor's children was practically the norm, as well as the murder of anyone with matching soulmarks to those same children (it made Lanfan very glad indeed that even when Ed hadn't been strong enough to stop one of the assassins, at least he'd had people to defend him).
They'd both known that eventually it wouldn't be very safe for Ling to remain in Xing, and, really, the only option that either of them particularly liked, was Amestris. They didn't like the idea of being in a country ruled by a military state and rife with xenophobia (both Lanfan and Ed had gotten looks in the hospital, even with Ed's State Alchemist pocket watch), but the Elrics were in Amestris and had promised that if they ever needed anything, they could come to them. Fu didn't quite trust Al, though, something about his chi being off, but Lanfan trusted the Elrics, so that had ended that discussion. They had allies in Amestris, and the same couldn't be said about the other countries.
Unfortunately, it seemed today was the day where it all came to a head, so Lanfan followed the plan.
She'd played Ling before without too much difficulty, playing his part again wasn't so difficult. She was the distraction and if anyone was planning on taking Ling (Lanfan) out, they wouldn't be noticing Fu sneaking around with the real Ling. They'd all ride out into the desert in different directions initially but in a few days' time would meet up at the Ruins of Xerxes.
So, she grabbed a bag of clothes and weapons, hiding her mask deep within as she pulled on Ling's clothes, yet again, tying her hair in his style and grabbing the first horse in the stables and taking off, with hellfire at her horse's hooves.
She didn't look back, only ducking as a few thrown knives edged too close to her throat.
"Yo, Ed!"
Ed blinked, looking up from situating the few folders he had in his arms to scowl viciously at the speaker. "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, can I help you?"
Hughes grimaced a bit, unable to help rubbing the soulmark under his jaw, which didn't help things. Ed's eyes followed the movement and it seemed to make him angrier. "I guess you and Roy still aren't talking, huh?"
Ed growled, turning on his heel and walking in the opposite direction.
"Whoa! Hey!" Hughes had to jog to catch up. "I didn't mean anything by it, honestly." He hoped his expression was earnest. "How are you and Al doing?"
Ed chewed on the inside of his cheek, biting back a scathing retort; he had many, but most of them were Mustang-centric. They still hadn't talked and it was nearly a week later, the day of the State Alchemist Exam, and Ed had nothing but radio silence from him. Hughes, he remembered, had been in Ishval with Mustang.
Honestly, Ed was having trouble viewing anyone who played a part in the war positively, not now that he knew about Mom. It was hard and it hurt, but if Mustang wanted to run away from his problems, that was his fault.
"I'm fine," he said shortly like he wasn't a fire raging, threatening to spread and consume everything in sight.
"Are you sure?" Hughes eyebrows furrowed in concern like Mustang would sometimes do if Ed and Al came back to the office looking particularly ragged. That didn't help.
Ed didn't have a chance to give a snide retort when a soldier paused to his side. "Lieutenant Colonel Elric, sir?"
Ed wondered how much it hurt to call an almost fifteen-year-old 'sir'. "Yeah?" he demanded, tilting his head.
"I was sent to collect you, sir, General Hakuro was wondering if there were enough copies of the exam."
He briefly distracted Ed who looked through his folders, bringing the last one to the front, using a few gloved fingers to count the stapled pages. One…three…seven…eleven…fifteen. There were only fifteen applicants this year, and, from what Ed understood, the number was getting small and smaller as the years went on. He hadn't made too many tweaks to the exam, though he had seriously considered it, which the applicants should've been grateful for.
Ed handed the folder to the soldier. "There's enough, tell Hakuro I'll be there in a sec'."
The soldier looked particularly scandalized at the casual way he spoke about the general, but he still took the folder and saluted before heading off.
Ed heaved a sigh. "I've got to go, too." He took one step forward before gritting his teeth and twisting around to glower at Hughes. "This is his mess, he can clean it up."
It was easier to remember the times when Ed could explode at Mustang and he could explode right back, but this time Ed wasn't sure screaming would even get the point across. Of course, Ed did feel like a balloon filling the gas that one day soon would pop. He figured he'd end up screaming at Mustang or beating him senseless. He was personally hoping for the second one.
And then he twisted on his heel and followed after the soldier, other people veering out of his way with one glance at the expression on his face.
If he'd glanced back, he would've seen a woman who could've been compared to the woman that once held him in his mother's hospital room after she'd given birth to Al.
Major General Olivier Armstrong didn't usually make the trek to Central, preferring to remain distantly in the North at Fort Briggs, but, unfortunately, this wasn't a meeting she could skip out on, though she loathed to surround herself with the other higher-ups who were made entirely of men far too power-hungry for her tastes. Thankfully, Major Miles was with her to suffer as well.
Neither of them had been expecting to hear about a Lieutenant Colonel Elric; both had heard of Trisha Elric's passing some years ago, sadly. By the time it had reached Olivier, the funeral had already happened and it seemed…inappropriate to intrude afterwards.
But that boy…Lieutenant Colonel Elric…he was the right age, he had the same sun-warmed skin and golden hair and eyes. It could've been either of Trisha's sons, but she remembered her fond smile as she looked on Edward saying "This one's got a fiery spirit, I know it."
"General?" Miles' voice was quiet and careful beside her and Olivier knew why. Miles hadn't known Trisha for as long as Olivier had, but as they were both part Ishvalan -his fourth to her half- serving in the Amestrian military, there were things about themselves that only the other knew.
"Later, Major Miles," Olivier restrained a sigh as she straightened her back, tapping a finger against the hilt of her sword.
"SISTER, HOW LOVELY TO SEE YOU!"
"Fuck!" Olivier swore loudly.
No matter how he felt about Ed currently, Roy was proud of him, and he couldn't help but sneak onto one of the balconies that proctors used to overlook the applicants in case of cheating and also by the Fuhrer if he ever wished to oversee, unseen from above.
Ed was speaking quietly with General Hakuro, his expression serious. Roy wasn't accustomed to the look, particularly with Ed wearing the military uniform he detested so much.
"Are they really letting an officer's kid in here?" there was a rather carrying whisper and Roy made sure he was carefully unseen when Ed's spine tightened and he twisted slowly on his heel to glare with so much fire that Roy could practically feel the heat from where he was.
"I'm Lieutenant Colonel Edward Elric," the boy practically snarled out, and that shut them up quick. "And I'm the one in charge, so sit down and shut up!"
Roy almost sighed. Ed with his hair-trigger temper as always, but at least this time he wasn't reduced to screaming rage.
One of the soldiers passed out the test to each of the applicants.
"You have four hours to complete the exam. Your time begins…now."
And with a scramble, everyone flipped over the sheets and began to write. Roy remembered what it had been like for him and he remembered who completely fried Ed had looked when he'd finally completed his, only taking so long because he was being careful with writing with his automail hand.
It looked like things were well in hand, but he didn't notice fiery golden eyes watching him as he turned around and left.
The Xerxian sun was achingly hot and bearing down on Lanfan as she trekked on through the desert, alone and unaided, her bag dragging in the sand. She was delirious from the heat and from the pain that it was a miracle that she hadn't passed out more than once.
The first time was when she'd cut off her arm, the ligaments and muscle torn and shredded impossibly by a dark-clad figure bearing the Ying crest until it hung uselessly off her. She'd bound the stump of her arm as best as she could with only one functional arm, being in so much pain that she had to wonder how she'd been able to do it (she thought inexplicably of Ed with his automail arm and leg and Lanfan's morbid curiosity "Did it hurt when it happened?" and there'd been something close to bitter agony in his eyes "Passing out was the best part," was all he said about it), how she'd been able to stanch the flow of blood, how she'd been able to tuck her useless, amputated arm into the reins, sending the horse to track a blood trail far from her.
Lanfan had no idea if it would work, only clutching Ling's ruined shirt to her bleeding stump.
She'd rode hard for days without stopping…how long had it been? It was a week's ride to the Ruins going at a normal speed, but Lanfan had been booking it since she'd left the Yao compound. She knew her grandfather and Ling had gotten out, anything less would make her lose focus, and Lanfan couldn't have that.
Her leg sank into the sand and Lanfan toppled down, whimpering as her sensitive and agony-ridden stump hit the sand with the rest of her. She saw stars, her eyes rolling just a little from the pain.
"All right," she muttered to herself, "rest for…five minutes."
And before she passed out she caught a glimpse of golden eyes.
Ed?
"Only one pass?" Ed frowned, looking over the exam, but they weren't wrong, none of the other applicants had scored high enough to perform for the practical side. "Shou Tucker?"
"That's correct, sir," the lieutenant nodded her head. "He filled out an absentee form for his practical exam on the grounds that he specializes in bioalchemy and he plans to transmute a chimera to reveal the results in a few days' time."
"A chimera?" Ed startled a bit at that. He didn't know much about bioalchemy, and it wasn't possible to create something organic from something inorganic, no matter how many times it had been attempted, but a chimera? Alchemically synthesizing at least two living creatures into a new and functional form hadn't been seen before. There'd been a lot of research into it, but so far none of it had yielded any positive results.
"If that's all right, sir?"
"Why're you asking me?" Ed retorted flummoxed.
Lieutenant Maria Ross' mouth twitched faintly. "Sir, you're the one in charge of the State Alchemist Exam, you get final say in matters like these."
Ed blinked. "Oh." It was weird having any kind of power in the military and Ed wasn't entirely sure he liked it, but he wasn't sure he disliked it either; he was ambivalent at the moment. "I guess that's fine…doubt it'll work, but okay." He gave a careless shrug, he handed the papers back, frowning slightly at the image of Shou Tucket that was clipped to the paperwork he had to fill out in order to take the exam. He gave him a strange feeling, but he couldn't quite place it…
It was probably nothing.
"Lanfan? Lanfan!"
Lanfan moaned as she came around, the bone-deep pain aching from her stump, and she brought a hand up immediately to protect it in case it was necessary and it was only then that she finally blinked her eyes open hazily.
Her grandfather's face was stony above her, fingers lightly tapping her cheek while his eyes trailed to her arm. Ling was pale-faced and terrified, eyes frozen on her stump, unable to get past it.
"M'here," Lanfan finally managed to force out with a wince, her throat drier than the desert…or not. She tilted her head back to see the storm clouds swirling above them, thunder booming. There hadn't been a drop of rain in the desert for the longest time, and the only time Lanfan had ever seen it was when she'd been with Ed, riding back to Amestris. "Y'know, if Ed was here he'd be complainin'."
"What?" Fu asked completely flummoxed and Ling blinked at the mention of his soulmate.
"Ed," Lanfan coughed, "rain makes his ports ache…guess I'll be feelin' it soon."
She sat up and regretted it, but her grandfather and Ling both helped get her situated.
"What happened to your arm?" Fu asked directly.
"Cut it off," Lanfan said with exhaustion clear in her face and her voice. "That Ying assassin completely shredded my arm…so I slit his throat." She thought that was fair after the attempted assassination of Ling several years ago.
Ling's hand jumped to his own throat over where the thin scar was still clear to see if you got too close, not that anyone really had.
Lanfan blinked owlishly. "Are we…are we in the Ruins of Xerxes?"
"That was the plan," Fu told her grimly, examining her injury gingerly.
"But I passed out," Lanfan said in complete confusion, looking around for any indication of people living there, finding none, "and the last thing I remembered was a pair of golden eyes."
Ling and Fu shared a glance. "Then the Xerxians were mercifully kind."
They were ghosts was what they were. Lanfan could count on one hand the number of times she'd seen a Xerxian and that was including Ed and Al (Al still counted, right? Lanfan hadn't actually seen his face with him wearing that armor all the time, but Ed had said they were very alike in appearance). She'd thought there'd be more signs of the civilization, evidence that they were alive, but even in the Ruins it was impossible to tell.
Fu offered her a refilled canteen of water and Lanfan took it, gulping its contents greedily as she looked down to her stump, feeling oddly removed from the whole situation, noticing there was a fresh bandage wound tight over the wound. "Are we still going to get into Amestris at Welosl? Like last time?"
Fu nodded his head. "We'll get through, then we'll see just how willing your friend is to house three Xingese refugees."
Ling bit his lip; he was being oddly quiet.
"I'm pretty sure the only thing he'll take issue with is the young lord's appetite, Grandfather." Ling could eat Ed and Al out of house and home if he wished. She smiled faintly and it fell away when Fu went to make sure they had enough water for the journey, leaving her to turn her attention to Ling. "Young lord?"
Ling made a small humming noise, but apart from that, didn't speak or make any other noise. Him being so quiet was out of character and it was starting to worry Lanfan. She'd seen him go deadly quiet before and the results of that had been both frightening and impressive; her grandfather had trained him well.
"Ling," she pressed with his actual name, "are you all right?"
Ever-tactile, his fingers found the only hand she had left. She squeezed it, hoping it reassured him.
"I'm sorry," Ling said finally, his voice raw and full of the pain only a boy forced from his homeland could feel. "Your arm—"
"My arm can be replaced." In fact, that was what Lanfan was thinking about the most, having an automail replacement. It probably wasn't the best idea to be considering replacing the arm when she'd just lost it, but Lanfan needed her other arm to protect Ling the best way possible, without it she was half as skilled and Lanfan needed to be practical.
Automail was the best option but she knew it would be incredibly painful, given how Ed had been talking about it on the way to Amestris with her arm broken, every jostle from the horses sending spikes of pain through her body, and he'd had the operation at eleven, she couldn't imagine how painful that must've been to an eleven-year-old.
(One day she will ask)
"Your life…your safety," the words clogged in her throat a little, remembering the terror at seeing Ling clutching at his bloody throat, "matter more than my arm."
His hand clenched painfully tight around Lanfan's. "A ruler," Ling started and then had to pause, almost trembling, "a ruler's duty is to his people, without them he is no king at all."
Lanfan's eyes softened, understanding his meaning quite plainly.
You aren't expendable, not to me.
"Thank you," she said finally, "young lord."
Al was due to return in a few days, but it was still a relief to hear his voice over the phone.
"Brother…we're going to need to sit down and have a conversation about…Mom when I come home," Al said about as gently as he was capable and Ed tried not to sigh, reaching down to pet Nitro when he meowed insistently.
"I know," he said, "there's some stuff I learned on my end too."
"Oh," Al voice came across as surprised. "Brother? Are you okay? You sound…stressed."
Ed pinched the bridge of his nose. "Its been a rough week, Al, I'll tell you all about it when you get back."
"Okay…how was the exam, that was today, right?" Al sounded like he was forcing himself to be upbeat.
"I got to threaten some people, so not bad." Ed snorted and Al's scandalized "Brother!" "One person passed…a guy that specializes in bioalchemy…apparently he's going to make a chimera for the practical exam."
"What, really?" that got Al's attention.
"I know, right? I was—" There was a sudden knock on the door and Ed paused. "There's someone at the door, Al, I've got to go, okay? Look after yourself until you get back."
"Sure, Brother," Al laughed before Ed hung up, moving quickly to answer the door, wrenching it open and staring.
There was a man with skin close to his in color and snow-blindness goggles to hide his eyes, sideburns and a spike ponytail that was a shocking white, like Gerah's. The woman beside him made Ed pause because he'd seen her likeness in all those pictures with Mom's things. Long blonde hair hanging loose and blue eyes that made him think of Winry, but that was where their likeness ended. This woman's eyes were sharp and icy and at her hip was sabre that had clearly seen some use.
"Can I help you?" Ed asked carefully, stiffening when her eyes fell on his automail arm, exposed with his jacket from his uniform off, leaving him in the black undershirt.
The man cleared his throat. "I apologize for the intrusion," he said swiftly, "but we both knew your mother…is it all right if we come in?"
Ed looked from him to the woman -she was clearly in charge and far more decorated- not sure how he felt about the careful way she was surveying him, like he was a barricade on a map that she was debating a frontal assault on.
He heaved a sigh, opening the door a bit further. "Yeah, all right."
AN: I knew Lanfan was going to lose her arm on the way out of Xing since we aren't really following much of canon and I wanted to keep how much of a badass she is using her amputated limb to throw people off.
This is going to be the last update before school starts up again, which will hopefully be my last semester of nursing school :) and then I have to take a massive exam to get certified so…if I have free time, I'll work on the next chapter, but be aware that I've got a lot of stuff going on in my life.
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
